


Of Pranksters and Wallflowers

by Riveroot_Nightshade



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Friends to Lovers, M/M, On the Run, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Self-Hatred, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-01-29 06:30:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21405721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riveroot_Nightshade/pseuds/Riveroot_Nightshade
Summary: Mitchell is a wallflower, and he is perfectly content with continuing to be a wallflower for the rest of his life. He's happy living in his popular sister's shadow-not that Piper would ever say she is popular, she just is. Just skating on through life with straight A's and B's, with his only interactions with living organisms being with his best friend Katie Gardner and the few class discussions the teacher forces on him. A wallflower. And then Connor sat next to him.Connor's family has just moved to a new town. A very small town, mind you, where everyone knows everyone. And he's starting his freshman year of high school, aka hell. This cannot end well. He knows only three people here, and two of them are his brothers so they don't count. But, he can just put on a fake grin and distract himself by setting up pranks so no one will bother him. It's fine. He's always been a loner, the prankster that everyone loves but no one really knows. He'll be happy, or at least close enough to be okay. And then he sat next to Mitchell.
Relationships: Katie Gardner/Travis Stoll, Lou Ellen Blackstone/Cecil Markowitz, Mitchell/Connor Stoll, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 27
Kudos: 59





	1. The First Day in Hell

**Author's Note:**

> So FYI this is the first fic I'm writing on my own, so it might not be all that great. Also, I myself have just started my freshman year in highschool. And it's a private school. And I have drama until five three days of the week. and an average of like five hours of homework a night. Basically, I have very little time on my hands at the moment. So, updates will be very irregular, sorry. I'll write as often as possible, promise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of school. Mitchell is determined to remain in the shadows, because if no one notices you then no one will hurt you. And that is the philosophy he lives by. Connor, on the other hand, is the new kid in town, and boy is he good at memorable first impressions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically this is just an introduction to the world and the characters, so this is kinda short, but please bear with me. It gets better, and definitely longer. Just trust me.

Mitchell heaved a long, deep sigh, slamming the button on his alarm clock angrily. Today was the first day of school, that ungodly sound had no place waking him up. Yawning and accepting his fate, Mitchell rolled off his bed and grabbed the clothes he had laid out the night before. The familiar routine did nothing to help his nerves. It’s unsettling, really. Normally his whole life was kind of deadened, as if a blanket of soundproofing was laid over every emotion and he was just floating through life. It wasn’t always like that. But then… _he_ happened. 

Mitchell shook his head at the memory, pausing in brushing his teeth. _No. Shut it away, melt the key, and burn the box. And the house. If you pretend it never happened then it can’t hurt_ _you._

Mitchell spit out the toothpaste and washed out his mouth before looking into the mirror to start on his hair and makeup. He’d always been the forgettable jack of all trades. Okay at all, master of none. He knew he was told that he looks above average, but he didn’t think so. Boring, slightly wavy chestnut brown hair (though it was dyed most of the time, so few knew its natural colour. As of then it was a faded blush pink, the natural roots showing through. He’d have to dye it again soon), big, round, light green eyes that turned a hazel hue in certain lighting, a soft splatter of freckles across his pale cheeks. A smooth but not round jawline, heart shaped face, and a small button nose. Forgettable. Average. Boring. He got nearly straight B+’s and A-’s, the only exceptions being a B in PE and an A+ in French. He couldn’t even claim the title class clown- the only time he was funny was when he was trying to be serious.

His older sister Piper was everything he would never be. Supermodel looks, hot jock boyfriend, the most popular girl in school, straight A+ grades, funny without trying, and so good at debate that she could probably convince a murderous horde of serial killers to go to the police and hand themselves in if she wanted to. Basically, the whole package. Lacey, his younger sister, was the middle ground. Not particularly exceptional in grades, and still too young to determine the hot gene, but she was hilarious and a genius when it came to art and singing. She was also adorable and had mastered the art of puppy eyes, so she could get anything she wanted if she cared enough. 

Mitchel sighed as he finished his makeup- light black eyeliner, mascara, a bronze, copper and gold eyeshadow look, nude lipstick, and some light bronzer. It looked good with his tight burgundy tee and black skinny jeans. After combing through his hair and deciding against putting product in it, he grabbed his bag.

He walked out just as his best friend Katie pulled up in front of his house to pick him up. She was a year older than him, but they were neighbors so they were still best friends despite never sharing any classes. She also could drive, which was an obvious plus. “Excited, nervous, or already too dead inside from panicking to comprehend things as trivial as emotions?” She asked as he jumped into the passenger seat. 

He smiled as she asked the same question she always did before driving them both to school. “A confusing jumble of all three. It’s progress, though. Something new and different from the usual numb.”

Katie just nodded, already knowing when asking for elaboration would only make him shut down. He appreciated that she paid enough attention to know that. Then, the car is on the highway, driving them to the hellscape that is Athens High. 

\-----

Connor opened his locker, putting the paper the principal gave him back in his pocket, and shoved his backpack into the metal box. This was the eighth school in the same number of years. Not like he wasn’t used to it by now, but it was still exhausting. This time there was even a new town to go along with it. At least he still had his family, he supposed that was something. He grabbed his books for his Spanish class tiredly and trudged along to the room. 

As he entered, he saw his adopted brother Cecil sitting in the corner of the room, doodling plans for future pranks on a random piece of paper. Cecil was only seven months younger than Connor, so they were in the same year. Connor smiled and sat next to him. “Hello my dearest sibling, fancy seeing you here.”

Cecil smirked and didn’t look up while saying, “Greetings my greatest source of annoyances. Fancy tolerating you here.”

Connor placed a hand on his chest dramatically and gasped while falling back in his chair. “You wound me. And to think I loved you enough to consider not pranking you as much this year.”

Cecil raised an eyebrow. “Considered? As much? Really?”

“Hey, that’s a lot coming from me.” Connor raised his hands placatingly. 

Cecil shrugged. “Fair, I guess.”

\-----

Connor finally finished his last class, and walked out to his brother Travis who was waiting by his car with Cecil. Travis was a year older than him, but you couldn’t tell if you weren’t told outright. Honestly, the two could pass as identical twins if they wanted to. It was creepy. 

“Hey little bro,” Travis said as Connor walked up.

“Sup big bro,” Connor replied, jumping into the convertible without even bothering to open the door.

“No hi for me? I feel so unloved!” Cecil cried out extravagantly, falling into the car with a hand to his forehead. 

“Nope, we hate you. We’re planning to put you back up for adoption,” Travis told him bluntly, the only sign that it was a joke being the small smirk playing across his lips. 

All three burst into laughter at this, and they continued joking around as they drove back to the new house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it so far, and any and all comments are appreciated. the feedback gives me fuel to keep going, like caffeine, or gay ships becoming cannon.   
Also, this is most likely going to be the shortest chapter. Like I said, it gets way longer and better the further into the story you go.


	2. (Maybe? Hopefully? Possibly?) Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Mitchell meet for the first time, and it goes exceptionally well. Almost too well...
> 
> Also we meet Nico, Lou Ellen, and Katie. But they aren't the main focus of this fic, so they aren't too important yet. Soon, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy the chapter, I appreciate all comments whether it be constructive criticism or just a general reaction. I'm always up for a conversation! :)

Connor walked into his first class of the day, history, still only twenty five percent awake. He stumbled over to an unclaimed desk, in between a boy with light bubblegum pink hair who was reading a book and a guy who looked like what you might get if hot topic and a funeral home had a child. The minute he had his notebook and a pen out, the bell rang and class started. 

“Okay class, so today we are going to begin studying the European Renaissance. Tomorrow, we will begin a group project covering one topic or person connected to this time period, so I suggest you take notes,” the teacher announced, standing up from his previous seat at his desk. 

All the students groaned in unison, save the one or two anomalies that immediately began scribbling in their notebooks. Connor wasn’t entirely sure they were human. 

Connor begrudgingly opened his spiral notebook to a blank page to begin writing. He hated group projects. You never knew what you’d get. Who knew, you might have a group composed mostly of students who would actually contribute. Congratulations, it that was the case, then you didn’t exist. Usually you had one or two good partners, and the rest was made up of a combination of floaters and people who only did half the work and then dissapeared or tried to help but were so incompetent that the good kids had to scrap it and redo that whole portion. It sucked. 

The teacher began the lesson and Connor half attempted to pay attention. By the time the period ended, he’d filled a page and a half with notes. Not bad, all things considered. He sighed and gathered his things, shoving them in his backpack to go to his next class. However, before he’d even stood up from his desk, the teacher called for the class’s attention. 

“Before the bell rings, I’d like to assign your groups so that you can exchange contact information and begin planning before class tomorrow.” The teacher proceeded to list off groups of three, with varying reactions from the class. About halfway through, he got to Connor. “Connor Stoll, Mitchell Reed, and Nico diAngelo, you three will be working together.”

The two boys on either side of Connor perked up, which Connor took to mean that they were the two other kids in his group. Connor turned to them to introduce himself or something like that.

“Hey, I’m Connor. So I guess we’re working together, huh?” He said like the eloquent person he was not.

The emo darkling nodded and said quietly with a faint Italian accent, “It seems like that’s the case. I’m Nico, by the way.”

Bubblegum hair smiled. “I’m Mitchell. Why don’t we exchange numbers so that we can contact each other if anything comes up that would get in the way of the project?” 

See, Connor had a philosophy. That philosophy was that he refused to develop a crush on someone he had just met. His reasoning? Because he wasn’t in a fucking Hallmark movie. Or a cringey fanfiction. The problem was, Mitchell was making him question this philosophy. But Connor wasn’t the kind of person who simply went down without a fight. He’d been through too much shit for that. If he could survive Mrs. Reinholt’s eighth grade english class, he could handle not getting a crush on someone so clearly out of his league that he’d also just met. This was pure attraction, and he would be damned if it wasn’t going to stay that way.

Mitchell, Nico, and Connor each pulled out their phones and exchanged numbers before the bell rang for second period. “See you around,” Mitchell said to the other two. 

“See you around,” Connor responded. Nico just mumbled something along those lines and disappeared into the swarm of highschoolers. Connor sighed and shouldered his backpack, preparing to face the rest of the day one class at a time. 

\-----

Mitchell walked into his third period class. He’d always loved English, especially the creative writing aspect of it. The idea of creating a world all your own and being able to escape into it from reality was amazing to him. As he went over to an empty seat, he noticed the boy who sat next to him in history- Connor, was it?- sitting in a desk in the corner of the room texting. Mitchell, not seeing a reason not to, decided to go over and sit next to him. 

“Howdy partner, fancy seeing you here.” He said much too enthusiastically. Why did he do that? Did he _want_ Connor to be freaked out by him?

Fortunately, the universe seemed to be taking pity on him at the moment, because Connor just smirked and said with a twinkle in his eye reminiscent of Peter Pan, “Howdy? Really? I don’t know how to feel about that. Amused? Confused? Some other emotion that I don’t know the word for?” 

Mitchell laughed. He kinda liked this Connor, he was actually quite charming. “Honestly, I kinda agree. The fact that I said that disturbs me on many levels. I think I may be possessed. Please, call a priest and schedule an exorcism for me,” He joked while he sat down across from the blue eyed boy.

Connor tried to hold back his giggles. He failed, and an embarrassing snort escaped, leaving him blushing like an anime schoolgirl. “You have heard nothing. I have a non-existent reputation to uphold.”

Mitchell snickered, and was about to continue the banter when the bell rang. The two continued to snicker occasionally, though. 

The teacher walked up to the front of the room. She was a tall, skinny, red-haired thing that reminded Mitchell of Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus except exceptionally more vulture-like. “Okay class, today we won’t be doing much apart from introductions, rules, and going over the syllabus. However, that doesn’t mean that you can sit and talk and not pay attention. I will not tolerate anything but the best from any of you. Understood?” She glared at the class with her beady black eyes through the thinnest red glasses Mitchel had ever seen. That, accompanied by the black top, red pencil skirt, and red stilettos made Mitchell terrified by the combination of her fashion sense and overall demeanor. Honestly, what was she trying to accomplish? Scary horror movie lady bug woman? 

He tuned back in to whatever Ms. Ladybug of Doom was saying. “... and then next class we will be starting our creative writing unit, where by the end of it you should have finished a story to turn in for a third of your grade for this semester. Tomorrow I will be going over the criteria for that assignment. Any questions?” Mitchell was ecstatic. This teacher may be strict and terrifying, but damn was he hyped for this assignment! 

Ms. Ladybug of Doom looked around the room, and seeing no raised hands continued on. “Well, we have half the period left. I’d like you all to write a short free-write on whatever you wish so I can gauge where you all are at as far as experience goes. Print it out when you get home and then turn it in tomorrow at the start of class. You may begin.” 

Mitchell wasted no time pulling out his laptop and starting to write. He decided upon a fantastical tale of a boy who was gifted with the power to control emotions, but was cursed to always feel his own emotions ten times stronger whenever he used his power. He meets a boy one day with the power to always tell when a person is lying, and also never be caught when they themselves lie. The two fall in love, but the liar fears that the boy is tricking him into loving him, and runs away. The boy is crushed, as this couldn’t be further from the truth, and goes after him. After many trials, he finds the liar on a cliff in a far off land, prepared to jump. The boy rushes toward him and grabs his arm at the last moment, catching him. The liar asks the boy one question, scared of the answer: “Is my love for you real?” The boy answers, tears in his eyes, “I have never controlled you, and I never will, if only you-”

The bell rang.

Mitchell sichs and began packing his things, knowing he could finish the short story at home. His next period is lunch, so he takes his time instead of rushing like he usually would. Upon finishing and slinging his bag over his shoulder, he turned to Connor, hesitant. “Hey, would you like to sit by me at lunch?” 

Connor looks surprised. Shit, this was a terrible idea. Mitchell inwardly facepalms. Stupid. Of course he wouldn’t want to sit by someone as boring as him. He probably had way cooler people to sit by- “Of course, I’d love to!” Connor was smiling widely, showing off the mischievous glint in his eyes even more than normal. Mitchell let out the breath of air he hadn’t realised he was holding and smiled softly as well. 

“Well then, let me guide you to my humble eating corner,” Mitchell said, holding out the crook of his arm for unknown reasons. 

Connor smirked, linking his own arm with Mitchell’s. “Why thank you, good sir. But do pray tell, why would someone as lovely as yourself deign to eat with but a commoner such as I? Surely, you must have more preferable eating mates than myself?” He said all this in a strange accent that wasn’t quite brittish but wasn’t quite anything else, and all Mitchell could think of to properly describe it was like a very rich person. 

“Now, I can’t even begin to tell you just how completely wrong you are. I am not lovely, I am boring and the very definition of a wallflower. And you are funny and easy to talk to, therefore I enjoy your company and wanted to have lunch with you. Simple,” Mitchell said honestly. 

Connor burst out laughing. “You? Boring? Dude, you literally have pink hair and are more well dressed than anyone I have ever seen, including Jennifer Lawrence- and that’s saying something.”

Mitchell rolled his eyes. “Whatever, besides. We’ve arrived at the table of chaos. Connor, meet Katie. She is the harbinger of nearly half of the weird thing that has happened in this town to my memory, and they usually revolve around plants. She has an ongoing rivalry/begrudging respect with Lou Ellen, who contributes the other half. As for the dudes sitting next to her, I don’t know them. I only have one friend.” Mitchell and Connor Sit down across from Katie, who is wearing her long brown hair in twin braids today accompanied by a rustic orange beanie, a pair of headphones, Harry Potter-esque glasses, an army green top, a denim jacket, old ratty jeans, and hiking boots. Basically, she looks like the very definition of hipster. 

Kaite holds out her hand for Connor. “Katie Gardner, chaotic neutral. If you cross me, you will find your wardrobe covered in poison oak. If you cross Mitchell, expect something worse. I’d tell you, but a prankster never reveals their best secrets.”

Connor smiles and shakes her hand. “I like you. My name’s Connor, and I am the new prankster in town. Expect some serious competition, I look forward to April Fools and hope we can work together for the senior prank,” He turns to the two boys sitting next to Katie. One looks unnervingly like Connor, and the other had the same blue eyes and curls, but no freckles and his hair was a sandy blonde rather than brown. “Travis, Cecil, what are you two doing here? I thought you would be with Lou Ellen concocting some sort of evil plan like yesterday.” 

“Wait, you know them?” Mitchell asked Connor, confused. 

Connor looked over at Mitchell. “Yeah, these are my brothers. Travis and Cecil, meet Mitchell. Mitchell, meet travis and Cecil. Whatever you do, don’t give them anything. Or tell them anything they could use against you in a court of law. Basically, don’t trust them with anything. Unless someone has pranked you or you want to prank someone else, in which case they are your guys.” Travis fist bumped Mitchell awkwardly and Cecil shakes his hand with such an incomprehensibly extra manner Mitchell was left unmoving and gaping for a few seconds before shaking his head in confusion. Cecil seemed proud and satisfied with this reaction. 

Travis turned to speak to Connor. “Katie and I have a science project together and wanted to iron out details for where, when, and how we want to work on it. Lou got held back by the teacher because apparently the boy she was partnered with was absent today. She should be over here soon.”

They talked like that for a while, and soon conversation was flowing so easily it was as if they had all known each other for years. Sure that was the case for some of them, but before today Mitchell and Kaite had never even met the other three. About five minute in, Lou Ellen arrived and entered the conversation easily. Apparently, she had been dating Cecil long-distance for about a year and had known the brothers for four years prior to that through a summer camp they all went to.

All too soon, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Mitchell sighed and bid farewell to his (hopefully?) new friends, packed up, and trudged off to his next class. He hated math.

\-----

“So, what’s up with you and pretty boy?” Lou asked while she and Connor walked to their next class, PE, which they shared. 

“Nothing Lou, he’s just a guy I share some classes with and we started talking and hit it off. Hopefully we can be considered friends now, but that’s all.” 

Lou nodded, seeming to accept his answer. However, right as they arrive upon the doors to the separate locker rooms, she offers, “All I’m saying is, you talked like you’d known him for years. You’d be a cute match. Okay, bye!” She hollered this last part, darting into the locker room.

Connor grumbled, but decided that it wasn’t worth it to be annoyed. This was just how Lou was, he might as well just accept the throw away comments and move on with life. 

PE passed like always, running a few laps and then attempting to avoid the crazies who would wrestle randomly and knock into everyone else despite the teacher having given them at least three detenions. He and Lou Ellen talked while shooting hoops, and soon the period was over. 

\-----

Mitchell was packing his bag when his sister Piper came up to him. “Hey little bro, Jason is going to hang with some friends after school today so I can drive you home if you’d like.”

Mitchell looked up from where he was putting his last textbook into his bag. “Sure, it beats walking five miles.” He shrugged and put on his backpack, kicking his locker closed.

Piper smiled. “Great!” The siblings began walking to the doors.

“So I saw you sitting with some new people at lunch today. Care to share any juicy details?” Piper asked with an obviously fake nonchalance. Most would be fooled, but Mitchel had been living with her since birth. He knew all the tricks. 

He rolled his eyes and told her anyway. “They’re all brothers, each a year apart. Travis is the oldest, he was there because he and Katie have a project together in science. Connor is the second oldest, he and I share some classes and hit it off, so I invited him to sit with me. Cecil is the youngest, he was there because of the other two I think. Oh, and Lou Ellen, she’s a long-time friend of theirs and Cecil’s girlfriend. They all seem pretty chill.”

They arrived at Piper’s car, an old beat-up red Ford pick-up like you’d expect to see on a farm in the midwest owned by a redneck wearing jean suspenders, a red plaid shirt, muddy work boots, a straw hat, a piece of straw in his mouth, and a banjo in his hands. Piper loved it. 

“Well, I’m glad that you’re making some friends. I was sad seeing you all alone last year after Katie moved up to the highschool,” Piper said in passing as they pulled out of the tiny parking spot. Honestly, it was like the school wanted them to crash into things. The spots seemed to be made for clown cars!

Mitchell allowed a small smile to creep onto his face. “You know what? Me too.”

The rest of the drive home was quiet, just listening to the sound of Brendon Urie and Taylor Swift sing the best collab ever made (honestly, Mitchell’s two favorite singers of all time did a song together, and people expected him _not_ to play it constantly? As if!). When they finally pulled up to their house and went inside, the smell of dinner cooking and general hominess greeted them. It has been a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So next chapter may not be up for a while, but who knows? maybe homework won't be as bad this week... *glances at schedule which has like three big tests and a ton of stuff already on it* *sweats nervously as mental breakdown looms in the shadows*


	3. Picture Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's picture day, and it's looking pretty gay.
> 
> oh also there's a sprinkling of solangelo because I have a serious problem and a Leo cameo because he's the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I forgot to do this earlier, but just in case anyone thinks I have a go complex or whatever, I feel the need to clarify that despite me wishing I could ever be as amazing an author as dear old Uncle Rick, that simply isn't and never will be the case. I own nothing. this is complete fiction. et cetera, et cetera. tl;dr, I own the plot and exact wording, the inspiration and characters go to rick. Well, actually, I was inspired for the ship of conchell by the amazing writer makerofaqueen, she/he/they (idk) have the claim to getting me hooked on a new otp but that's not the point. 
> 
> now on with the actual story you came for instead of my rambling!

Today was picture day, and Mitchell was freaking out. He knew what to wear- a pale cornflower blue crop top with charcoal skinny jeans and matching pale blue sneakers- but what about his makeup? It had to be perfect! Problem was, he had absolutely no inspiration. Pink eyeshadow to match his hair, or grey to match his jeans? Nude lipstick or light pink? Cat eye or no? Bronzer, blush, highlighter, contour, it was all too much! 

“Mitch? You doing alright?” Piper broke him out of his inner meltdown. 

“Not particularly,” he responded, gripping the edge of the bathroom counter top. “I appear to have lost all sense of inspiration.”

“Want my help?” His older sister asked, stepping into the fluorescent lighting.

Mitchell let out a long breath. “Actually, that’d be really nice right now. Thanks, Pipes.”

Piper smiled and grabbed an eyeshadow brush. “Any time.”

In the end, they decided on a light pink eye look to match his hair, winged liner, light pink-tinted highlighter, light bronzer, dark mascara, and a matte pinkish nude lip colour. He looked perfect. 

Piper leaned in and pecked his cheek. “You look amazing. The whole school is going to be jealous.” 

Mitchell rolled his eyes. “Well, I don’t know about that, but I do like it. Thanks again sis, really. I couldn’t have done it without you.” He leaned in and hugged her, before letting go and walking downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat before he had to leave for school. 

Lacy squealed upon seeing him, leaping down from her seat at the kitchen counter, and ran over to look at his outfit. “Oh my gods, Mitch, you look amazing! You could literally be a supermodel! You look beautiful! Mom, doesn’t he look pretty?” She said all of this in one breath in the span of like, two seconds. Mitchell had to admit, her talent was admirable.

His mom smiled and looked over at her son. “You look wonderful dear. It’s strange, how fast you’ve grown up. And now you’re in highschool, beautiful to the point that I worry about other boys being blinded by attraction and jumping you in the halls.”

Mitchell rolled his eyes in the way only he could (he was an eye-rolling master from the age of three. It was a talent he should have awards in) and said, “Mom, you’re exaggerating. I am pretty sure I’m a six and a half at most, you only say these things because you’re my mom,” He grabbed a piece of toast and bit into it, “Now, I really must be going if I don’t want Katie kicking our door down again; I don’t relish the idea of having to put it back on the hinges a third time.” He grabbed his bag and ran out the door, toast still in his mouth, to the soundtrack of Katie honking her horn like a maniac and his family sending him their well-wishes. 

\-----

Connor was sweating so much that he was honestly worried he’d have to change shirts. Why? Because he was nervous. His reason? See, he’d only moved to this town a week ago. That meant that he had no clue what the protocol was for picture day. In the end he’d decided on a nice, tight-fitting dark cerulean blue crew neck t-shirt and black fitted jeans paired with his dark grey sneakers. It looked okay, but what if he had been expected to wear a suit and tie? Or a dress shirt? What then? He’d be ridiculed! Ugh, why couldn’t anything ever be easy? Whatever, too late now. He was only three minutes from the school, Travis and Cecil were badly singing along to some awful pop song on the radio as if nothing in the world mattered. He envied their ability to be carefree. It wasn’t human. 

As they pulled into one of the unreasonably small parking spots, Connor saw other students in similar attire to himself. _Okay, good. I won’t be ridiculed until my dying day. It’s a start._ He entered the school and went to his locker to pull out his textbooks for the day. 

His first class was English that day, and when he got there, there were only a few other kids already sitting down. Eventually, Mitchell arrived. Connor looked up, and _Oh my gods what the_ _fuck how’d get get hotter he looks like a fucking god keep it cool._

Mitchell just sat down next to him and smiled like everything was normal. Connor had to remind himself how to breathe and not stare like an idiot. “Hey Connor! You look amazing, that shirt really bring out the blue in your eyes.” Connor was probably blushing like a schoolgirl right now. Shit.

“Y-yeah, thanks. You look… wow.” _Now why’d I have to go and say that, he’s probably uncomfortable now. Idiot. *inner facepalm*_

Mitchell blushed, and it was probably the most beautiful thing Connor had ever seen. _Wait, what? What am i doing thinking things like this, I’ve only known him for a day! This is not a crush,_ _and I won’t let it become one. Get your head in the game, Connor! Pull yourself together!_

“Oh, uh, thank you, I guess…” He trailed off, and the two were left blushing and internally screaming. Well this wasn’t awkward at all. 

Luckily, before the silence went on for two long, Mitchell spoke up. “You know, this morning I almost had a panic attack because I couldn’t decide how to do my makeup.”

Connor looked over at the other boy in surprise. “Really?”

Mitchell nodded. “Yep. My older sister Piper came in and calmed me down, though. Helped me decide on my makeup too.”

“Well that’s good at least. I almost had one because I didn’t know what the expectations were- like, dress shirt, tie, or casual but nice. It freaked me out so much that I sweated enough to consider switching shirts. Sadly, I was already three minutes from school and it was too late to change.”

Michael let out a small laugh. “You are a mess.”

Connor just smiled proudly. “Why thank you, I try.”

The warning bell rang, and the pair began pulling out the things they needed for the class while talking about random topics. Five minutes and the teacher was walking to the front of the class.

“All I’m saying is, Deadpool was a better anti-hero than Loki. Fight me.” Mitchell stated, but then the teacher cleared her throat very loudly while glaring at the two boys. 

Mitchell’s eyes widened in embarrassment. “Sorry ma’am.”

Ms. Evil Frizzle’s mouth narrowed into an even more intimidating line (a great feat, I assure you). “Mhm. Well class, I’d like you to share your short stories from yesterday with one other person, then turn them in at my desk once finished. You may begin.” 

Connor immediately turned to Mitchell. “Wanna swap stories?”

Mitchell smiled. “Well you are my only friend in this class, so of course.”

Connor refused to admit how happy the fact that Mitchell said the word ‘friend’ made him. That wasn’t important. Not. At. All. Instead of lingering on that, he grinned widely and handed Mitchell his story in exchange for the other boy’s. 

As he read it, he only grew more and more in awe. It was amazing. Like, as in Mitchell could be an author if he wanted to. This really read like a professional, published work. The characters were fleshed out, the plot was enrapturing, it extracted all the right emotions and reactions at all the right moments- and so many other minute details that Connor didn’t know how to explain but were dam well done. 

When he finished, he just set the work down and stared at nothing while he processed. “Woah. just- woah.” 

Mitchell was looking at him tentatively. “Did you like it? I’ve never shown my work to anyone before so this is kinda new to me.”

Connor looked over at him. “DUDE IT WAS AMAZING!”

Mitchell blushed softly. “Thanks. So was yours, by the way.”

Connor shook his head. “Mine is nothing compared to this. I mean, it read like a professional work. You could seriously make a full-on career out of this. I am in awe. You are a god.”

Mitchell rolled his eyes. “You’re just being nice, I’m not that good.”

“No, I’m being honest. You, my friend, are truly gifted.”

“Whatever you say, Connor. I’mma go turn mine in, do you want me to turn in yours too?” 

“Sure, thanks.” Connor handed him back his paper. Mitchell stood up and went over to the line forming by the teacher’s desk.

Connor didn’t understand why Mitchell was so insistent that he wasn’t that great of a writer. He was honestly astounding at it. It was like the whole ‘I’m not pretty’ thing all over again. Was he really that convinced that he wasn’t special? Why didn’t he realize he was incredible? Connor didn’t know, be he’d be dammed if he wasn’t going to find out and fix it.

Before he could linger on these thoughts any longer, Mitchell returned to his desk, clearly trying to hold back uncontrollable laughter given how much he was shaking and the shit-eating grin on his face. “I figured out Ms. Apocalypse’s real name is, and you won’t believe what it is.”

Connor tilted his head to the side, intrigued. “What is it?”

“Ms. Joy.” Mitchell said, then burst out laughing, unable to hold it in any longer. Connor, of course, immediately joined him. This was too good. 

Sadly, this didn’t last very long. Ms. Joy was having none of their shit. “MR. REED, MR. STOLL. MY DESK, NOW!”

Connor and Mitchell looked at each other like deer in headlights. _Oh shit._ They weren’t laughing anymore. “Y-yes Ms. Joy.” They said, voices small. They walked up to her desk in shame, where she was sitting looking angrier than ever.

“Now I don’t care why you two have been acting like hooligans and disrupting my class, but that is irrelevant. What I do care about is that you did it in the first place. For the next week, you will be serving detention for an hour after school each day. End of discussion. If you continue to be disruptive, you will get an extra week each time. You may return to your seats now. Silently. Understood?” Her eyes seemed to bore into his soul like a vulture eating carrion.

Mitchell and Connor nodded like bobble heads on a roller coaster. “Yes Ms. Joy!” 

She nodded once. “Good. Now off with you, shoo shoo.”

The pair scurried back to their desks, if they’d been dogs their tails would’ve been between their legs. 

Connor pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote on it, _‘I think I’m scarred for life’,_ then passed it quietly to Mitchell under the desk.

Mitchell read it, then wrote back, _‘Oh I know I am. She is terrifying.’_ Connor silently laughed at that, then returned his focus to the lesson.

\-----

After that, Mitchell had PE. He hated PE. Sure, sometimes it was okay- like when they would play badminton or lacrosse. But when they made the class run for a mile and a half non-stop in the freezing rain? He hated it with every fiber in his being and then some. 

“Okay class, today we are running two laps and then doing volleyball for the rest of the period. Now, go!”

Mitchell groaned. Fuck his life. He wondered what the consequences would be for ditching, and if it would be worth it. He had a feeling the answer would be a resounding, _yes. _

Nonetheless, he steeled himself and began jogging. Every time his feet hit the track he grew more and more convinced that this class was designed by the government to slowly kill him and raise the teen suicide rates to control the population. Then he stepped in a puddle, soaked his shoes and socks, and only convinced himself more. Fuck his life. 

About five minutes later and he’d finished the laps, minus about half his will to live. He was proud of the groan he issued when he remembered that he had forty minutes left of class to go. He should win an award. 

Mrs. Lede whistled loudly. “Okay class, today we will be starting our volleyball unit! Everyone come into the gym and grab a group of five so we can begin!”

Mitchell hated it already. At least next period was lunch. 

\-----

Mitchell walked into the lunchroom, sweaty from PE, and looked for Connor. Soon he found him, sitting at the same table as yesterday, laughing with Cecil. 

As he walked over to the table, Connor looked up and grinned. “Hey, Mitch! How was your last class?”

Mitchell sat down and looked at the brothers seriously. “I’ve had a revelation. The government has created PE as a device to control the population and weed out the weak. It slowly destroys the weak’s will to live, raising the teen suicide rates, and leaving the strong in our wake. This is the only logical reason that they would make us run a mile in the rain, make me get my feet wet, causing me to probably develop a cold tonight, then make me play volleyball with people I’m not friends with for half an hour, and make me get hit in the head with the ball. This is why I hate PE and capitalism. It is all a plot for power and teen suicide to control the population and then get even more power.”

Cecil nodded. “I approve of this message. You’re good in my book.”

Connor shook his head, a smile on his face. “You are insane.”

“Aren’t all the most interesting people, though? Normal is boring, and all ‘normal’ people scare me. That’s why I never talk to humans.”

“But you’re talking to us?” Connor said.

“My statement still stands.”

Cecil smirked. “I like this one. Good work, Connor. You may still be in the running for that promotion.” 

Connor pumped his fist in the air. “Yes! Travis can finally wipe that smug look off his face!” 

Mitchell had no clue what was unfolding before him, but it sure as hell was entertaining. 

Travis slid in beside him, Katie and Lou Ellen at his side. “You talking shit?”

Cecil shot him finger guns while Lou Ellen sat beside him. “You know it.”

The second they finish saying that, a very loud voice comes on over the intercom and a small, curly-haired Latino boy jumps onto a table in the middle of the lunchroom, a microphone in his hand. “Hello my adoring fans! My name is Leo McShizzle, and I have a message. Everyone told me highschool would be nothing like they show us in the Disney movies, and I’m here to change that. Everyone stand up, because things are about to get a lot more fun!” With that, he pulled out his phone, tapped something, and ‘All Star’ from Shrek started blasting over the school speakers while he badly sang along. A bunch of other people joined in, until a teacher began chasing after the boy, who jumped off the table and ran into the halls.

Travis smiled, but it looked more devious than kind. “Looks like we’re gonna have to stage our prank soon, we have a reputation to uphold after all.”

Just then, Nico and a boy Mitchell recognized from PE- Will, if he remembered correctly- walked up to the table. Nico was holding his nose, while copious amounts of blood were streaming out of his face. 

Will spoke. “Hey, Cecil. Hey, Lou. So I can’t make it for the start of our English assignment next period. Nico here hurt his nose when Leo pushed him out of the way while running from that teacher. I’m just going to take him to the bathroom to clean it up and make sure it isn’t broken. Would you please let the teacher know why I’m late?” 

The pair nodded. Cecil replied, “Sure, no problem Will. Gotta save the poor damsels in distress you are the golden knight to his dark prince; and you must do your noble duty!”

Mitchell wasn’t sure, but he thought he could spy a hint of blushing through all the blood covering the Italian’s face. The bleeding boy said, albeit garbled, “I’d appreciate if you two could tell Mr. Goude why I’m late as well, and I’m sorry for not being able to help for the start of our project.”

Mitchell smiled. “Dude, it’s all cool. It’s not your fault that that Leo ki stampeded into you and possibly broke your nose while on his crusade for chaos. Honestly, I’m more worried about your wellbeing right now.”

Will and Nico nodded in thanks, then walked off to the nearest men’s restroom. 

—Nico/Will’s POV because I have an unhealthy obsession with solangelo—

Nico/Will’s inner thoughts: OH MY GODS HORMONES ASDFGHJKL

—And now back to our regularly scheduled Conchell, now in Connor’s POV—

Connor was internally screaming. Which was normal for him,but this was different. See, he couldn’t think of anything for their debut prank on the school. And Mitchell distracting him with his general perfect demeanor wasn’t exactly helping either. This wasn’t normal, he had a reputation to uphold! 

“Connor?! _Connor!_” Mitchell shook his shoulder forcefully, yelling his name.

“Wha- What?” Connor was suddenly back in history class, with no clue how he got there.

“You spaced out. I’ve been having a one-way conversation for the last five minutes. I just asked you how your pancreas was feeling ever since the fire nation attacked.”

“Oh. Well, if you must know, it is feeling rather copper.” Connor replied in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

“Good to know. Just out of curiosity, what were you thinking about?”

“Nothing much. My brothers and I have a tradition of doing a huge prank at the start, middle, and end of each year- with smaller ones in between, of course- just to maintain our reputation of most prolific pranksters to ever walk the halls of our school. Problem is, none of us can think of a prank. We’re losing our luster. This is quite foreboding.”

“Ah, I see. Sorry, but I don’t think I can help you there. Pranks aren’t exactly my area of expertise.” 

Soon, the bell rang and class started. Mr. Goude handed everyone a piece of paper then stood at the front to address the class.

“Okay, so today we’ll be in our groups and researching the renaissance to decide upon your topic for the presentation that will be due at the end of the semester. You’ll have the entire period to work, do if you finish early you may start on other aspects of the project. The instructions are You may begin.”

Nico still hadn’t arrived, so Mitchell and Connor decided to start researching without him, then ask his opinion later.

“Okay, so it says here we’ll need a six to nine minute presentation on any aspect of the renaissance, along with a slideshow. I think it’ll have to be something we can find a lot of good resources on considering the length.” Mitchell suggested, looking over the instructions. 

Connor nodded, and they went on like that for a bit, slowly narrowing down their ideas until Nico arrived, looking flustered. His nose was bruised, and there was gauge taped over the bridge of it. 

“How’s your nose doing?” Connor asked the shorter boy with concern.

Nico spluttered. “Oh-uh… be-better.” He actively avoided eye-contact as he set his bag down and pulled out his laptop. 

Mitchell shared a confused look with Connor before asking, “So do you know Will, or was he just a nice by-stander?”

Somehow, Nico became even more flustered than before. “Err… eh, no. We’ve shared some classes before, but we haven’t really exchanged more than a few passing words before now. He’s… really nice…” Nico trailed off, beet red. He seemed like he was going to say more than just ‘really nice’.

“Ooo-kay,” Connor said, trying to save the poor boy from dying of embarrassment. “Well, we should get to work. Time’s a-wasting!”

Nico nodded sharply. “Yes. Work. That. We should- yeah.”

Mitchell seemed to hold back giggles and gather himself enough to feign a mask of professionalism. “Great! So, We were thinking about doing the presentation on the art of the renaissance, specifically on how it evolved throughout the period. There should be enough resources and information for us to divide the work equally and have a sound argument. What do you think?”

Nico nodded. “I agree, that sounds pretty reasonable. What about how we divide up the work load, and scheduling time to work on it outside of class?”

“We wanted to wait until you were here to talk about that, but I think we should all have a say in everything, but still divide things evenly. As for scheduling out of class time, I have no clue,” Connor said.

“Well, I think that we can each write our own sections that we’ll say during the presentation, as well as the slides during our portions. Then one person can do editing, another can gather the sources and create the works cited page, and the last person can help out where needed and be the sort of organizer/leader and change slides during the presentation. That sounds about even. What do you guys think?” Mitchell offered, then looked to the others. 

Nico grinned. It was creepy and looked like he was plotting a murder. “I like it. I can do the organizing and leader stuff. Why don’t I create a google doc and slideshow and share it with you?”

“Yeah, I’ll gather sources and stuff. Mitchell, that leaves you with editing. Is that okay?” Connor looked to Mitchell, worried that he’d be unhappy.

“Yep, I actually prefer editing to any other option so this works out great. But before you start looking for sources, we need to make an outline so we know what exactly we’re looking for,” Mitchell said. He had a serious look on his face, and Connor could tell he was becoming absorbed into the mindset where all he could focus on was the project. It was actually kind of cute. Wait- what? Where had that thought come from? Nope, put it back. Lock it up, melt the key, put the key in a volcano, burn the box, and throw the box into a different Locarno on the opposite side of the planet. He would not be the main character in a Hallmark movie! 

“... the ways it evolved, why it changed, and the main artists and pieces from different parts of the Renaissance along with how they demonstrate the different types of art that emerged throughout the era,” Nico was saying.

“I like it, but who’s going to do what? Also, what about the introduction and conclusion paragraphs?” Mitchell proposed.

They continued planning for the rest of the period, with Connor taking the introduction and how art evolved, Nico taking why it changed, and Mitchell taking examples and the conclusion. Connor volunteered his house for any out-of-class work, and times would be determined over text. Overall, it was a productive class. At one point, they even got Nico to laugh. That moment would forevermore go down in history as the day that two highschool boys achieved the impossible. Nico, on the other hand, would deny it ever happened until his dying breath and probably continue denying it after that as well. Connor respected and maybe even admired that. 

\-----

The rest of the day went by in a haze, and nothing much happened. Pictures were taken during the last period instead of having classes, which was nice because it meant Mitchell didn’t have to sit through another boring science lecture, but other than that, things were pretty uneventful. Soon, Mitchell was climbing into Katie’s sunflower yellow pickup and driving back home, Panic!’s _Pretty._ _Odd._ drifting from the speakers and into his ears. Everything was peaceful and happy. It was almost as if the universe was looking at him and thinking, _You know what? We’ve_ _been a jerk to this kid. Let’s give him a break._

But then, Katie turned to him and said something that ruined it all. “So that Connor kid seems like your type. Are you going to ask him out or what?” Now it seemed like the universe was looking at him and thinking, _Ha! Did you really think that we would give you a break? As if! _He hated the universe sometimes. Actually, scratch that, he hated it _all_ the time. 

“What the fuck Katie, I’ve known the dude for two days! What do you think this is, some cheesy, disgusting teen romance? I would only ever even begin considering asking him out after we’d been close friends for a month, minimum. And that;s even pushing it. I just-” He broke off and steeled himself so he wouldn’t start crying from what he was about to admit. “I just… I don’t want to fuck up and have to suffer through a repeat of last time. I… I don’t think I’d be able to handle that. Not again.” he ignored the tears welling up in his eyes, threatening to spill over and down his cheeks.

“Oh. I’m sorry, Mitch. I… I hadn’t considered that. You’re right. I’ll try not to bring it up again, unless you do first at least.” Kaite looked ashamed and rather uncomfortable, shifting in her seat every half second.

“No. It’s okay. You didn’t know. To be honest the thing that bothered me the most was the fact that you’ve been neglecting singing along with me to one of the greatest albums of all time. I mean honestly, how dare you forego jamming out to ‘When the Day Met the Night’ and ‘Nine in the Afternoon’? Those are our jams, Kate! You disappoint me.”

Katie smirked, and everything was back to normal once more. “Says the dude who forgot the intro to ‘I Write Sins not Tragedies’.”

“OH MY GODS IT WAS ONE TIME FIVE YEARS AGO AND I HADN’T SLEPT IN TWO DAYS, WOULD YOU JUST LET IT GO ALREADY?!”

Katie full on Cheshire Cat grinned. “Nope!”

Mitchell flung his head back against the head rest. “UGHHH! I hate you!”

“No you don’t.”

“Yes I do; I will murder you in your sleep, smile, laugh, and then I won’t play ‘Helena’ at your funeral.”

“Oh, you take that back right now.”

“Never.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, sadly updates are gonna be pretty unreliable for a while as I have two huge projects coming up in school, and I'm going on vacation for thanksgiving during which there's a family rule of no electronics. I think I might die. But, I'll try my godsdamned hardest to get another chapter up before christmas! no promises, though. Please leave a comment or kudos, feedback keeps me going!
> 
> also, wow. 4,411 words. in one chapter. holy shit.


	4. Trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mitchell's past comes back to haunt him.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING!!! flashbacks to and experiences of attempted rape, mentions/implications of past abuse. read at your own risk, your mental health is more important than entertainment. don't say I didn't warn you, I almost cried while writing this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just wanted to say, I was going to write this sooner. But, my parents surprised me with a trip to Washington for Thanksgiving, no electronics allowed. I was going to post the day break started, but that obviously didn't happen. So, I'll be posting two chapters today to make up for that. Sorry, I feel awful. Please forgive me!
> 
> Also I forgot to say this before, I own nothing except for original characters I'm not Rick Riordan.

Mitchell had just gotten out of PE, and was about to go to lunch when he heard someone else come into the locker room. Someone must have forgotten their bag or something. 

“Hello, Mitchell.” Mitchell froze in the middle of pulling on his sweatshirt. He remembered that voice. The voice that ruined everything. The voice that no matter how hard he tried, he could never forget. 

“W-what do you want, Damien?” His voice was already shaking. He hated it.

“Why, I want you, of course.” Mitchell could hear him walking closer. He felt himself tense up.

“Go away. You lost your chance to ever have me the day you hurt me beyond repair. You don’t get to do it again.” Michell’s fists were clenched so tightly that he could feel his nails digging into his palms. He wouldn’t be surprised if he drew blood. 

Damien tutted. “Oh Mitchell dearest, did you really think that I’d let you get away that easily? I’ll never let you go. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Mitchell’s breath was coming way too fast, and he felt his adrenaline kick in. He was probably shaking enough to look like he had hypothermia. “No. I got a restraining order. You’ll go to jail. I’ll press charges.”

Damien grabbed his sweatshirt and spun him around to face him. “I. Won’t. Let. You. You’re too weak. Too scared of me. _I control you._”

Mitchell felt like a cornered animal. He wanted to fight back, but he couldn’t move. He was trapped. He was back in June, when his whole life went wrong and the only reason he got out was because Piper and Jason found him and saved him. But there was no one to save him now. He tried to push back the memories, but they wouldn’t listen. They just kept coming and coming and coming, screaming at him and attacking his mind. Damien’s hands on his body, him sobbing and screaming through the gag for help, Damien laughing at his worthless, pitiful pleas, his clothes being ripped from his body, he felt disgusting. He _was_ disgusting. No one would ever love him once they knew. Then Jason and Piper breaking down the door, finding him naked and sobbing, tied to the bed and gagged with Damien holding him down. Jason fighting and knocking out Damien, Piper untying and holding him. The police arriving. It all flashed through his mind in a blur. 

Then he heard a new voice. 

——-

It was lunchtime, and Mitchell still hadn’t arrived. This wasn’t normal, because usually he was at the table at least five minutes before everyone else. After three minutes of restlessly tapping his leg and waiting, Connor had finally had enough. “Hey guys, I’m going to go look for Mitchell. Do any of you know what class he had before this?” 

Katie looked up from where she was looking at her laptop with Travis. “I think he had PE.” She immediately looked back at the screen, once again absorbed.

Connor nodded and bolted off to the locker rooms. He wasn’t far, only a minute run if he really worked on it. He made it in forty five seconds. He threw open the door, and froze at what he saw.

“D-Damien, please, it’s over. Just g-go away,” Mitchell was shaking, a large boy with a nasty growl was grabbing his sweatshirt and towering over him. 

“No! It was just one time, and you’re mine! You said that you loved me!” The boy, whose name was apparently Damien, yelled, shaking the cowering boy.

“S-Stop! I don’t love you, not anymore! Just let me go!” Mitchell screamed, his voice shaking.

Connor couldn’t just stand there, and his vision went red as he ran in and yelled, “Hey! Let him go, now!”

Damien turned his head sharply. “What did you just say?” He growled.

Connor walked closer until he had to crane his neck up to see Damien’s face. “I said let him go now, or I will fuck you up so badly that you’ll have to use your ugly ass face to go to the bathroom, because that’s clearly where it belongs. Now put my friend down, gently.” 

This close, Connor could see that Mitchell had a constant stream of tears pouring down his face, and a dark bruise was forming on one of his cheeks. “Connor, stop. You don’t want to do this, I don’t want him to see him hurt you too.” That only broke Connor’s heart more, and strengthened his resolve.

“Shut up! Who the hell do you think you are?” Admin ad tightened his grip on Mitchell's sweatshirt. 

“Wrong answer. I’m what the devil sees when he has nightmares.” Connor grabbed a baseball bat leaning against the lockers next to him and swung it at the back of Damien’s head, and with a loud _crack_ the boy dropped. 

“I warned him.” Connor said with a shrug, and dropped down to where Mitchell had fallen and was now shaking, his head on his knees and arms tight around his legs. Connor felt like he was breaking. Mitchell, beautiful, perfect Mitchell, shouldn't be reduced to this by anyone. Not if Connor had anything to say about it. He tentatively put his arms around his friend. “Are you okay? Well, actually that’s a stupid question. What I really would like to ask is _will_ you be okay?” 

Mitchell sniffled and leaned into Connor’s side. He spoke softly, barely even a whisper. “Honestly? I don’t know anymore. Thanks, Connor. Also that was a really stupid thing to do.”

Connor smiled weakly. “I pride myself on my stupid desicions. They give life a bit more pizzazz.”

Mitchell let out a sharp breath through his nose, which Connor took as a good sign. He decided totaled a risk and ask something that he didn’t know whether it’d make things worse or not, but he hid pride himself on his stupid decisions after all. “Who was that guy? Did he hurt you or something?”

Mitchell laughed, but it sounded more like a laugh that said, _Fuck my life and all the shit it has thrown at me,_ than anything else. “Or something. He’s my ex, we dated for the first month of summer.” Connor could tell there was more to the story than that, but he didn’t want to push Mitchell when he clearly had some sort of trauma from whatever had happened. 

“If Damien was stupid enough to do something to ruin your relationship then he’s an idiot and clearly a jerk. You’re perfect, any guy would be lucky to be graced by your presence, much less date you. If you ever want to talk about it then I’m here, and I won’t judge you. I know we’ve only just met, but you’re my friend and you’re awesome. I’ll be here and support you, no matter what.”

“Okay. You’re a really great friend, you know that?”

“I try. And I’ll keep trying until you get sick of me.”

“I don’t think that’s possible, Connor.”

“I highly disagree, but thank you.”

“Whatever.”

After another five minutes of just sitting there quietly, Connor looked over to Mitchell. “I know that every part of you is going to hate this, but we need to move. Damien will wake up soon, we need to talk to the principal about what happened so you’ll be safe, and you need to eat. I’ll stay with you, okay? I won’t budge on that.” 

Mitchell nodded. “Okay. Yeah, you’re right.” The two stood up, and after some hesitation Connor slipped his hand in Mitchell’s and squeezed. The other boy squeezed back, and Connor smiled. It would be okay, eventually. And Connor even had an idea for the prank.

The rest of the day, Connor couldn’t focus. He was too worried about Mitchell, too angry at Damien, too focused on plotting the best prank to get back at that fucking bastard who dared to waste oxygen. At the end of the day, Connor slammed open the car door. A maniacal grin was plastered across his face, eyes alight with a look akin to that of a psychopath when they had a plan for their next murder. “BOYS, WE’VE GOT A PRANK TO PLAN!”

——-

Mitchell was late to class. Connor had given him some of his lunch since Damien had fallen on his and ruined it. The principal had been furious at the situation and promised to expel Damien, and also said she’d notify the police so he wouldn’t bother him outside of school either. Connor had stood at his side through all of it, occasionally squeezing his hand to comfort him. The principal had offered to excuse him from classes for the rest of the day, but Mitchell had said he’d be fine. He was lying, and Connor had known it too, but he needed a distraction right then, and being in a silent house all alone was not a distraction. 

When he walked into French class, Mrs. Lambert didn’t even acknowledge that he had missed half the period. The principal must have told her. Mitchell was glad. He dropped his bag on the floor next to his desk and didn’t move or speak for the rest of the period. He missed Connor. He’d felt like he had an anchor to reality when Connor had been holding his hand. Now he just felt like a ghost.

It stayed like that for the rest of the day. When Katie drove him home he could tell she’d heard. She was worried. But he didn’t say anything. When he walked into the house he could tell his family had heard. They asked questions. It all sounded like white noise, though. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t eat dinner. He didn’t drink anything. He didn’t change, he didn’t shower, he didn’t do anything. He just laid on his bed like a ghost. And he remembered. And he cried. And he missed the one person who seemed to be able to make it better. 

He didn’t go to school the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me feedback so I can improve, comments give me sustenance.


	5. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some adorable bonding and character growth. IDK, just read it I suck at summaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've found that I'm having serious issues making the relationship progress realistically because I almost made them kiss/say "I love you" several times in this chapter even though I planned this to be a slow burn but obviously that's not happening so this will now be a slowish burn because I pride myself on realism so I will endure the pain for the sake of the craft. Also, I was constantly wanting to cut things shorrt because I've been SUPER excited for the next chapter because the scene in it inspired the entire story, so obviously I'm in love with it, but this one needs to happen for the next one to be properly set up and make sense, but yeah whatever and shit i'm rambling again sorry back to the story.

Connor was terrified. Mitchell was missing. He didn’t even read his texts. He couldn't focus, not while he had the constant thought of _What if? What if Damien got to him? What if he decided to_ _just end it? What if?_ He didn’t want to be thinking those things, and yet here he was. A mess of constant waves of fear and worry that were so potent they rendered him nearly catatonic. The minute lunch rolled around, he bolted for Piper. She would know if Mitchell was okay. 

“Piper, we need to talk. Now.” He grabbed her elbow and pulled her into a quieter corner. “Where is Mitchell and is he okay?” He probably sounded like a madman but at this point he didn’t care. Then he noticed how shaken Piper looked herself and got even more worried. 

“He… no. He hasn’t moved, spoken, eaten, or drunk anything since he got home yesterday. His door is locked. I don’t know. We’re thinking about breaking down the door tonight so we can force feed him. This is what happened after Damien-” she seemed to stop herself before she said something private. “After the… Incident. He… He didn’t speak for two months after it happened. He would only eat or drink if I force fed him. I think it's ‘cause I’m the one who saved him. I heard you were the one to find him this time. You should come tonight. I… I’m scared he’ll starve or dehydrate himself to death if you don’t.” Connor was floored. Mitchell- hilarious, talented, amazing Mitchell- reduced to a literal catatonic state by that lowly, disgusting waste of DNA. Connor felt a part of himself die inside at the mere thought that this was really happening. 

“I’ll be there. Anything for Mitchell.” Piper thanked him and gave him the address, then Connor left to go to the table and attempt to get through the rest of the day.

When he walked over, he let Travis know he’d be working on the prank through a doc while he stayed with Mitchell, and asked if Travis could drop him off at Mitchell’s house during the drive home. Travis smiled like he knew something that Connor didn't and said he would; there was a go bag in the car for emergencies so Connor didn’t have to worry about clothes and other necessities. 

\-----

Mitchell could hear a knock at his door. Probably Piper again. He knew he should open it but he didn’t feel like moving. He didn’t feel like anything. “Mitch? Mitch please open up.” Wait… that was… no, it couldn’t be. Why would Connor be here? “Mitchell, please, I’m really scared,” Connor said, muffled by the door. Mitchell couldn’t stand hearing him like that, and mustered enough energy to stand. He felt shaky and dizzy, but managed to stumble to the door and unlock it before collapsing. Connor threw it open and caught him right before his head hit the ground. 

“Mitchell, oh my gods, Mitchell. Why did you do this? I-I can’t lose you, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had and I know that’s crazy since I’ve known you less than a week but it’s not like I’ve ever really had a friend before. Come on, I’m staying until you force me out of this gods damned house yourself while singing musical numbers and doing the Macarena.” Connor lifted him up and set him down on the bed. “So I would ask if you want to shower or change but I don’t think you’re strong enough for that and I don’t think we’ve known each other long enough to be undressing each other or showering together. So, instead I’ll ask whether you want chicken noodle soup or chicken flavored ramen?” He held up the two options like he was displaying two holy relics. Mitchell smiled a little in amusement, which made Connor light up like a little girl getting a puppy. Mitchell weakly tapped the thermos of chicken noodle soup, and Connor pulled out the utensils and some bottles of water. 

As they ate, Connor cracked a few jokes to distract Mitchell, which he appreciated. At one point Connor said, “So, guess what. The opposite of fireflies is waterfalls.” 

Mitchell nearly dropped his spoon. “Oh my gods you’re right. My mind is blown.”

Connor looked at him in shock. At first Mitchell didn’t understand why, then he realized. He’d spoken. Last time it’d taken him two months. Connor did it in less than two days. Connor laughed. “Oh my gods Mitchell! I’m so, so happy!” Connor hugged him, almost causing Mitchell to spill his soup. 

“I just don’t get it. It took your own family months to get you to talk, but I’ve only been here for hours. Why me?” Connor asked. Mitchell thought about it. He was right, logically it made no sense. Then he thought some more. Back to how he’d always lit up around Connor, ever since they first met. How Connor had always stood up for him, even if it was Mitchell himself that was putting himself down. How no matter what, Connor always seemed to make things better. 

“I don’t really know why, but you just always seem to make everything better. You’re special that way.” He snuggled deeper into Connor’s side, where they seemed to fit together perfectly.

Connor sighed. “Maybe. But I feel like you do that, not me.”

Mitchell smiled. “Then I guess we go together perfectly, don’t we?”

“I suppose we do.”

\-----

Not even an hour later, Mitchell had fallen asleep in Connor’s arms. This wouldn’t be a problem, except Connor didn’t know what to do with this information. He definitely couldn’t wake Mitchell up, that may as well be committing high treason or telling someone they were suddenly aware of their own breathing. And he couldn’t very well move Mitchell without waking him up to go sleep on the couch or whatever. It’d be like telling yourself to walk normally, and then actually succeeding. It simply wasn’t done. He sighed in acceptance. He’d have to just stay here. But what if Mitchell wouldn’t be okay with that? What if he ruined everything? This was impossible! 

Connor didn’t get much sleep that night.

\-----

By Sunday evening, Connor still hadn’t left Mitchell’s house. Mitchell was improving, able to stand and do simple tasks without issue, but he wasn’t all… there, exactly. He would only talk if it was to Connor, and if other people were in the room he’d have to whisper into Connor’s ear to communicate. He’d eat and drink, but not a lot. And sometimes if Connor left for too long to change, shower, or go to the bathroom, when he came back he’d find Mitchell curled up in a ball crying silent tears. It scared Connor. So, he called the school. 

“Hello, Mrs. Wilson? Yes, this is Connor Stoll. I’m calling in about Mitchell. He… he’s experiencing some form of PTSD I think…” Connor explained the entire situation, or at least what he knew. Then He suggested going to all his classes with him as a translator until Mitchell was able to talk like normal again. The arrangement wouldn’t work for French, as Connor was in Spanish, but minus that class he thought it was a pretty good solution. 

“Well Mr. Stoll, I am deeply sorry to hear this. However, I think your idea may work. I’ll have to talk to both of your teachers and parents, but if they all consent then you may go to his classes with him, minus French. I’ll get back to you with an answer by Monday morning.” 

“Thank you so much Mrs. Lambert, I’ll be waiting for your call.” Connor hung up the phone and turned to Mitchell, who was sitting next to him. “She said she’d have to talk to some people, but I think we’re good!” 

Mitchell smiled, as if he couldn’t comprehend why something would actually work in his favor. “Wait, really? This is great!” 

Just then, Connor’s phone dinged with an incoming text from Cecil. It read, _project football fairy is a-go._ Connor got an evil grin on his face. Everything was going according to plan. Then he remembered, Mitchell would be with him all day. How was he supposed to pull this off on schedule if Mitchell would be with him? Shit. He’d have to make an excuse, but he was a good liar. It would all be fine. It had to be, if he wanted to avenge his fallen comrade. And he _had_ to avenge him, if it was the last thing he’d ever do. 

“Connor? Who was that?” Mitchell asked, curious.

“Oh, it was Cecil. We’ve finished the prank, and now we just need to activate it. I would ask you to help, seeing as we’re going to be together all day for the foreseeable future anyways, but it’s kind of explosive and I don’t want you getting hurt. Ya know?”

Mitchell nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. Thanks for doing all this, by the way. I don’t understand why you care so much, and I kind of feel like a burden, but it’s still really nice of you. So yeah, thanks.”

Connor full-on spun and grabbed Mitchell’s shoulders, incredulous. “Why do I care so much? Isn’t it obvious? I care so much because you are my first real friend. I care so much because you are beautiful and perfect in every way. I care so much because that guy is a jerk and it brings me physical pain to see you affected by him so much when he is nothing more than a waste of perfectly good oxygen and atoms. I care so much because it’s you, Mitchell. And nothing could ever, ever change that. So please, don’t feel like a burden. Because you aren’t, not to me, not ever. Understand?”

\-----

Mitchell was shocked. Connor’s eyes were wide with concern and care. _Is this what it feels like to be loved? Not out of duty because they’re family, but just because they love you? No, that_ _wouldn’t make sense. We’ve only known each other for days. But then, what else could it be? And why do I wish that was the case?_ Mitchell realized he had tears in his eyes. He didn’t trust his voice, so he just nodded and hugged Connor, tucking his face into the crook of the taller boy’s neck.

Wait… why _did_ he care about how Connor felt about him? What did _that_ mean? What did _he_ feel about _Connor_?! Emotions and feelings were hard, and if he had a crush on Connor was he even _ready_ for a relationship? Probably not if he was being honest, but he’d like to at least know where his head was at as far as people he was emotionally invested in. This was all way too complicated. Why did feelings have to be so convoluted? He’d have to come back to this later, when his head wasn’t so fucked up. 

For the next few hours they watched reruns of Friends, always singing along with the intro and Phoebe whenever she sang. They both agreed that Chandler and Joey were totally gay for each other and in denial, and maybe even dating at one point or another. Mid-way through the seventh episode, Connor’s phone rang.

“Mhm. Mhm. Yes, thank you so much. I’ll let him know. You’re a lifesaver, truly. Have a lovely evening, buh-bye,” Connor’s face was split into a grin as he hung up. “That was Mrs. Lambert, she gave us the go-ahead to share classes until you’re better!” 

Mitchell couldn’t help but practically glow with relief and happiness. “Oh my gods, really? This is great!”

Connor smiled from ear-to-ear. “Now you’re stuck with me for the foreseeable future. My evil plan has worked! Mwahahahaha!” 

Mitchell put a hand to his forehead and feigned dramatism. “Oh, woe is me! How could you do this? The betrayal, it wounds me!”

“You are mine now, you silly mortal! You have no hope for escape!”

“Alas, you are too cunning for my mere pitiful self to vanquish! Oh, the despair!”

The two couldn’t hold back their laughter any longer, and broke into fits of giggles. And, Mitchell realized he didn’t think he’d really mind having Connor with him all the time. In fact, he thought he’d rather enjoy it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo again, I have some exciting news. the next chapter is like really fun (in my opinion, but i'm biased so idk), and almost 3/4 of the way done so it should be out soonish. However, I just started tech week for my play that i'll be performing this weekend. It's a bunch of short one act plays mashed together all about Marvel, and it's super fun. I've got four different parts and i'm super duper excited, BUT I'm also super busy because tech week is hell and my grades are dropping because of it all and just- *sounds of pain and things the english lexicon can't convey* I'll try and get the next chapter up by Sunday, but no promises. sorry.
> 
> PS- comments are fodder for my non-existent soul.
> 
> Update, if anyone cares. Tech week and the performance are over. It was awesome, and I'm sad to leave my amazing cast behind. However, Ill be working on costuming and set for the new musical coming up. Also, FINALS WEEK IS HERE BITCHES, And I GO TO A PREPATORY SCHOOL! YAY EVEN MORE HOMEWORK AND PRESSURE! don't you just love sarcasm? but no seriously, i'm in hell. anyway, I'd hoped to get the next chapter up sooner, but life is shit. I'll be honest, I'm only halfway done and I don't see myself finishing including editing to make it reasonably sane sounding anytime soon. So, with christmas break coming up, I'm hoping to post it before then (AKA I want to post before two weeks are up). SO SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY!!!


	6. The Prank (And Some Flaming Gays)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two very big things happen on this very eventful monday. First, Connor sets up The Prank. Then, Connor and Mitchell find themselves reinacting a scene right out of Mission Impossible. Needless to say, this chapter is quite the ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BAAAACK! Whoo boy did I miss writing! So I've been wanting to do this chapter for weeks now and I'm so happy to finally have it done! Fun fact, I actually didn't plan any of the second half of it, it just wrote itself and midway through i was like, "I wonder what would happen if the bus exploded? Well, guess we're writing that now!" and so here we are. Hope you enjoy it!

Today was the day. The day Connor was going to avenge Mitchell. The day, of the prank. He’d given Travis and Cecil all his instructions and plans, and checked in with them repeatedly over the course of the weekend. He’d even helped them some after school on Thursday. It would be _perfect._ For Mitchell, he’d accept nothing less. He was probably becoming a bit too emotionally attached to him, considering they’d only just met last week, but he’d deal with that later. Now, he had to focus on pulling this off. 

They were waiting outside the house for Katie to come and pick them up, and Connor was more than a little concerned about Mitchell. He hadn’t bothered with makeup that morning, and when Connor asked what he was planning to wear for his grand re-entrance, he’d just asked Connor to grab something random from his closet. That was not a good sign. He’d gone with a dark grey sweatshirt and jeans, with a blue t-shirt underneath, thinking those colors would go together at least passably. Finally, Katie pulled up and yanked Connor out of his inner turmoil.

Katie didn’t even wait for Mitchell to enter the car. She leaped out and tackled the younger boy, babbling through tears, “You know what, Mitch? Fuck you. You go and get harassed, then don’t show up to school the next day, don’t even so much as glance at any of my texts asking if you’re okay, then out of nowhere you call me asking to pick you and Connor up? I was worried sick! I’d thought that you’d be unresponsive for months like last time! And I’ve been so scared, and worried, and just- shit! Are you okay?!” 

Mitchell looked pretty overwhelmed at that point, and softly pushed her off. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it, shrugging and not meeting her eyes. 

Katie wiped her tears and nodded in understanding. “So who’s the translator this time?” 

“Me; I’m going to be joining him in his classes too so he won't fall behind,” Connor said, squeezing Mitchell’s forearm.

Katie nodded. “Good, that would’ve been an issue. Now come on, I don’t want to be late.”

She climbed back into the car, while the two boys got into the backseat. 

Once they arrived at the school and had all gotten out, Katie stopped Connor and hugged him, whispering in his ear, “Take care of him for me, okay?”

Connor smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” With that, the three parted, and Connor and Mitchell went off to his Science class. 

Once they entered, the teacher nodded at the pair in acknowledgement and gestured to the back corner, where there was presumably an extra desk for Connor. Soon, the bell rang and the class began. 

“Okay class. Last Thursday, there was a… well, something happened in the boy’s locker room. I assume you’ve all heard by now, seeing as news travels fast in schools, especially news of this nature. However, I will briefly explain for those of you who may not know. Mitchell here, was a victim of attempted rape by one of our previous students, who has now been expelled. This created heavy trauma due to other circumstances that I won’t discuss so as to respect his privacy. Due to all of that, he sadly is unable to speak to anyone except the person who found him and rescued him from his assailant- Connor Stoll. Due to these circumstances, Connor here will be joining us for the foreseeable future as a translator so that Mitchell will be able to participate in classes. You are to treat both of them will respect and courtesy, and we will proceed as normal. Does everyone understand?” The teacher Looked around at the classroom, as if daring them to speak up. No one did, but several were looking at Mitchell and Connor with unreadable expressions. Mitchell stared at his desktop, uncomfortable, as Connor rested a reassuring hand on his back and glared at the other students. “Okay then. On Friday we covered…”

——-

The rest of the classes before lunch went vaguely the same way, and at the end of each one the teachers would give him the work he missed on Friday. Mitchell hated it, how everyone in the halls would give him pitying looks and stared at him. He was a wallflower, not some animal in a zoo. He hated being the center of attention. Connor understood, though. He’d try his best to get people to leave him alone. He was so understanding, so caring. Mitchell didn’t deserve it. 

As soon as they entered the lunchroom, Cecil rushed up to them. At first, Mitchell thought that he’d have to suffer through another almost-interrogation, but Cecil just discreetly passed his brother a bottle of what looked like hair dye with a nod and ran off again back to the table. Connor pocketed the bottle and acted as if nothing even remotely out of the ordinary had ever happened. 

Mitchell, wanting to know what the heck had just happened, was having none of it. He tugged on Connor’s sleeve, and once he had the taller boy’s attention, raised an eyebrow. 

“It’s for the prank. You saw nothing,” Connor whispered, as if they were in some spy movie undercover during a top-secret mission. 

Mitchell rolled his eyes, _Why are you like this and why do I love it?_ Once they arrived at the table, Mitchell noticed two new additions to the table- Will and Nico. They were sitting next to each other, and Nico was _laughing._ Mitchell was convinced this had to be a sign of the apocalypse. He tapped Connor’s shoulder and whispered, “Ask them why they’re here. Politely.”

Connor nodded, and as they sat down, said, “Hey Will, Hey Nico. You haven’t sat here before. I hereby officially welcome you to the realm of chaos, there is no going back.”

Will smiled. “Nice to know. Lou Ellen invited me to sit here since we’re partners in our science project, and Nico told me that he was partners with you guys in history so I asked him to come with me.” 

“Makes sense. You guys seem to have gotten close,” Connor observed, with a suggestive smirk just because.

Nico blushed, but kept his voice steady as he responded with his trademark snarky mutter that Connor still didn’t know how he pulled off, “Well he is my only kinda-sorta friend so it would make sense that we’re close considering I have no one else to spend time with.”

Will looked surprised by this. “Okay, first of all we’re not just 'kinda-sorta friends', we are _definitely_ friends. Get out of your dark depressing head and accept that I want to spend time with you and that I enjoy your presence. Secondly, you don’t have any friends? We’re changing that, like now.” He turned to the rest of the table, leaving Nico a spluttering mess. “Who here would like to be Nico’s friend?” Everyone who was paying attention raised their hand, which included Mitchell, Connor, Jason, and Piper. Will turned back to Nico, who was currently trying his hardest to hide in his hoodie. “See? Now you have five friends!”

“I hate you all,” Nico growled out.

“No you don’t!” Will said in a sing-song voice.

“Yes I do, you are trying to kill me from a combination of embarrassment and corrupting my soullessness with friendship, love, and joy. I have a right to hate my murderers.”

“I will not give up until I get you to willingly sing campfire songs with me while smiling and laughing!”

“The day that happens will be the day the world ends.”

“In that case, I look forward to the apocalypse!”

“Why are you like this?”

Mitchel and Connor had been watching this whole exchange like a tennis match, trying to hold back their laughter. The pair were so much like themselves it was honestly hilarious. 

For the rest of lunch, the group joked and laughed at each other, and Mitchell realized that he’d finally found a place where he felt like he truly belonged. 

——-

It was the end of the day, and Connor needed to set up the prank. He and Mitchell were waiting outside for Katie, and Connor was running out of time. He just couldn’t think of a way to get away from Mitchell without constantly worrying about whether or not he was okay. 

Katie walked up to them and asked if they were ready to go. _It’s now or never,_ Connor thought, and said, “Actually I need to grab something from the locker room, I’ll be right back. Mitch, will you be alright without me? I’ll only take five minutes, tops.”

Mitchell nodded, albeit unsurely, and Connor was off. Just as he was about to enter the locker rooms, a teacher stopped him in the hall. _Shit. This wasn’t good._

“Hi, Mrs. Godart. What’s up?” He said, impatient.

She smiled, as if she wasn’t about to give him a heart attack. “Hello dear. I just wanted to let you know how happy I am that Mitchell has someone to look after him through this hard time in his life. What he's gone through, it’s awful. I was hoping you could give him my condolences, and let him know that the staff here at Athens High is here for him. You are such a strong young man, and a great friend.”

Connor nodded, freaking out inside at the wasted time. “Thank you, miss. I’ll be sure to let him know that.”

She smiled again. “Of course, dear. Have a lovely evening.”

Connor strained his face into a fake smile. “You too, Mrs. Godart.” With that, he ran into the locker room at breakneck speed.

He got to the football team’s locker room area, where they left their shampoo and conditioner in the showers, and got to work. He pulled out the permanent periwinkle dye and was about to pour it into the shampoo bottles, when he heard someone enter into the room behind him. _Fuck!_

“I’d suggest putting the dye into the conditioner, that way there’s less chance that they will wash the colour out, and there will be less of a chemical reaction so the dye won't dilute as much.” Wait, that was Mitchell’s voice. What the?

Connor spun around, dye still in hand. “Mitch? What’re you doing here?”

Mitchell shrugged. “You’d been gone for seven minutes and I was getting worried. Figured I’d check in on you and make sure you were okay.” 

Connor’s checks betrayed him and blushed a bit, but Connor refused to acknowledge it. “Oh, yeah. One of the teachers stopped me in the hall, told me to give you her condolences or something.”

Mitchell nodded. “So do you want my help? It’d go a lot faster with two people,” he offered his hand to grab one of the bottles of conditioner. Connor smiled and handed him one.

“You bet partner.”

Soon, the pair were done and were putting all the doctored conditioner back in the shower stalls. As Connor turned to put away the last of the dye- Travis and Cecil must have made extra just in case- he slipped on the slightly wet tile and fell right into Mitchell. Of course, that wasn’t bad enough for the universe however, because not only did he probably bruise Mitchell up, the dye bottle’s cap popped off and all the dye got into Mitchell’s hair. _Well great,_ Connor thought, _Now Mitch is probably furious with me. That’s just lovely._

But then, Mitchell began laughing. Not giggles, either- full blown bent over, rolling on the floor, guffaws. The kind that can bruise ribs. It’s the most beautiful, confusing thing Connor has ever been privy to witnessing. Like, Mitchell’s laugh is beautiful, but why is he laughing in the first place? Connor just got dye all over his hair after falling on top of him. Where he still was. Like an idiot. “Oh my gods, I am so so sorry! I just got it all over your hair, and probably got your back really bruised from falling on you, and oh my gods shit I’m such a horrid person!” Connor helped Mitchell up, whose face was flushed from how much he’d been and still was laughing. 

Tears were streaming down his face by now. “Connor, it’s fine! I was planning to re-dye my hair soon anyways. Really I should be the sorry one; if I wasn’t standing so close to you, none of this would’ve happened.” 

Connor was baffled. First Mitchell caught him mid-prank, which _never_ happens. Then, he told him how to do it better, which again, _never happens. Then,_ when he fell on Mitch and got dye in his hair, he _laughed_ and _apologized!_ Like, what the actual fuck was up with that?! Connor didn’t understand. This made no sense. This boy was a living anomaly. And, Connor was afraid that He was falling in love with him. It was as if Mitchell had taken a look at his ‘no Hallmark movie life’ rule, said “fuck that”, blown it up, and took a one-way waltz right into his heart. It honestly terrified Connor. 

“But-,” Connor began before Mitchell stopped him.

“Connor, trust me, it’s fine. I’m going to properly work this in so it won’t look like trash, wait a bit for it to set, and wash it out so we can go home. Okay?”

Connor nodded. “Okay. But I’m still sorry. Because I’m stubborn like that.”

Mitchell rolled his eyes. “If you insist. Can you call Katie and tell her to just leave without us? I’ll feel bad if we make her wait for too long. We can just take a bus home anyways.”

“Okay. Speaking of homes, I was wondering if we could stop by my place before heading back to yours. I’d like to grab a few things, like some more clothes and my laptop charger and stuff.” 

“Sure. Just out of curiosity, why are you insisting on staying with me still? Not that I mind, but wouldn’t you be more comfortable in your own home?” Mitchell asked, not turning from the mirror he was using to rub in the dye. 

“Well, I wanted to make sure you still had a way to communicate with your family without having to write everything down like some weird game of reverse telephone. Also, your family is much tamer. You don’t have something exploding every five minutes.”

Mitchell laughed. “That would be stressful, wouldn’t it?”

Connor groaned. “You don’t know the half of it. I think I’ve lost at least half my life span just from the constant anxiety that the next floorboard I step on will have some deadly trap from one of my brother’s latest ‘experiments’”

The two laughed, and Connor pulled out his phone to call Katie. “Hey Kate, I got some stuff in Mitch’s hair so we’re staying back to take care of that. You can just head home now, we’ll take the bus back.”

“I hope you guys at least used protection,” Connor could _feel_ the snicker and evil grin. 

“That is not-!” But she’d already hung up. He sighed and addressed Mitchell. “Well now she apparently thinks we had sex.”

“Wow, you’d think you would’ve at least bought me dinner first.”

“To be fair, I did bring you dinner last weekend.”

“Huh. You’re right. So sex is on the table still then?”

“Oh my gods, what do you think we are, pornstars?”

“No, I still have _some_ dignity. I was going for the main characters in a smut fic.”

“Is that supposed to be better?”

Mitchell paused and thought. “Actually, I don’t know.” They both laughed at that, then slowly trailed off into comfortable silence as Mitchell waited for the dye to set before going into one of the stalls to wash it out, then using a dryer he found to dry his hair. 

“What do you think?” Mitchell asked once he was done, spinning around. 

Connor looked up from his phone, where he was watching YouTube to pass the time. Mitchell’s hair was beautiful. The periwinkle perfectly complemented the areas where the old blush pink still showed through. He looked like cotton candy in all the best ways. “I love it! You look amazing, Mitch!”

Mitchell smiled. “Really? You don’t think it’s too much?” 

Connor stood up from the bench he’d been laying on and hugged the shorter boy. “Really.”

Connor let go before it got awkward while Mitchell blushed and smiled awkwardly. Connor loved that face, Mitch was so adorable and beautiful and perfect and- Shit he shouldn’t be thinking this about his friend, especially not his friend that he’s only known for a week and who also just got almost raped by his probably abusive ex. “Thanks Connor.”

"Anytime, da-Mitch." Crap, I just almost called Mitch darling, why on Earth did I just almost do that?! I need to pull my shit together, or I'll ruin everything. Come on Connor, you might be _head over heels for this boy, but that doesn't mean that you can just act on it!_ "Now come on, we should get going. It's almost been two hours since school ended at this point, and I've got a hankering for some good grub!" 

"Dear lord, you sound like my grandpa possessed you," Mitchell shuddered.

"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"

"Yes," he deadpanned.

Connor gasped, "You dare disgrace my name?! You need to respect your elders, young man! Honestly, kids these days. Out with you!"

Mitchell laughed, "Come on Gramps, let's go home."

\-----

Mitchell didn’t know what to do with himself. Here he was, sitting on a bus, while the boy he definitely had a crush on slept on his shoulder looking like a friggin angel. What heinous crime had he committed in some gods-forsaken past life to deserve such a torturous punishment? Connor’s bangs hung tantalizingly in front of his eyes as small puffs of breath escaped his full pink lips and lifted the soft, salt-and pepper locks ever so slightly. Mitchell longed to brush the strands out of his face and behind his ear, so he could see the feather-light and raven black long lashes flutter against Connor’s rosy, freckle-dusted cheeks. 

Gods, Mitchell was so tragically taken with the boy. It was really quite pathetic. After all, he was doomed to suffer; it would make no sense for his crush to be anything _but_ unrequited. Connor was sarcastic and silly, witty and wry, beautiful and bold, caring and crazy, unique and understanding, and so, so much more. Mitchell on the other hand? He was just that, Mitchell. Nothing special or unique to his name. 

Just as he was about to give in and touch Connor’s soft, almost velveteen hair, the bus came to a jolting stop; jerking both boys back into reality. “Wha? Mitch, whasapnin?” Connor slurred, still groggy. It was adorable.

“I… I don’t know. There’s no bus stop or light here. I’mma go check it out, be right back,” Mitchell said, confused, as he stood up in the aisle where other passengers were already congregating to investigate.

“Be careful,” Connor muttered, already going back to sleep, this time against the window.

Mitchell nodded, but was soon distracted by what he saw outside the window. The engine of the bus was on fire. This was not normal. Busses aren’t supposed to be on fire. 

They had sat towards the front, so he was one of the first people to see this. Everyone else was still sitting, was frozen in shock, or was still trying to see outside. “Everyone off the bus now, it’s on fire and will probably explode!” The driver had finally come back from where he’d been outside, probably calling the fire department. This, however, only caused more issues. Everyone tried to get off at once, screaming like banshees. Everything went to chaos at once. 

Mitchell grabbed Connor’s arm and their bags, forcing his way through the cluster of bodies at the door, and once outside ran in the first direction he saw. Not even two minutes later, there was an explosion behind them and sirens wailing nearby. Mitchell and Connor collapsed together on the pavement of the sidewalk, drained. Mitchell took a moment to look around. “Shit. We ran in the wrong direction, and there’s no way we’ll be able to get home now. Con, what do we do?” There was panic evident in his voice but at that moment he didn’t care.

Connor stood and took in their surroundings. “Okay. We’ll be okay. The sign right there says we’re on Elm Street, my house should only be about two blocks away from here. You can just stay at my place, mom and dad won’t mind. And if they do, then I’ll finally have proof that aliens exist and can take the places of regular people.”

Mitchell nodded, not having enough energy left to even laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Let’s just… get out of here.” He stood, with Connor’s help, and the two began walking. They probably looked straight out of the hunger games, but at least they were in one piece. 

Eventually they arrived, and Mitchell looked up at the home. It was average, white paint, two stories, two car garage- just your normal, every day, suburban house. Connor opened the door, not bothering to knock, and called out to his family, “Stop! You may stop now. I have arrived.” His mother came into the entryway, looked him up and down, and sighed.

“Please tell me you at least avoided the cameras this time?”

Mitchell raised his eyebrow, and Connor gasped in mock offense. “That was one time! And besides, this time the explosion wasn’t even my fault!”

Mrs. Stoll gave him a look at that. “Really?”

“Yeah! I mean, I _did_ set up a prank at school before that, but trust me, the bus was not part of my plan!”

_“YOU WERE IN THE BUS THAT EXPLODED?!”_ She was suddenly very concerned. It was kind of jarring.

“Uhm… yeah?” Connor said meekly.

“WELL ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“Yes?” 

Travis came into the entry hall, Cecil and a man Mitchell didn’t recognize following behind him. “What the bloody hell is all this screaming about? And why do you two look like you are living in a post-apocalyptic war zone? Do I need to grab the go-bags and fake IDs?” Travis said that last part a bit too calmly for Mitchell’s taste.

Connor groaned. “For the last time, we’re fine, we just escaped a burning bus that exploded right after we got out, it is blocking the road home for Mitchell so he’ll be staying here tonight and until the road is fixed so he can go home. We’re going to go clean up now, call us when dinner is ready.”

He dragged Mitchell upstairs before anyone could argue.

After he closed the door to Connor’s room and sat down on the bed, he began talking. “Your family seems pretty cool.”

“I don’t know, they really have just been forced into acceptance given all of our chaotic antics,” Connor pointed out as he was stripping off his ruined tee before throwing it into the trash can.

Mitchell fought to keep the blush off of his cheeks at the sight of Connor’s bare chest. “I guess,” he said, proud of the fact that he was managing to keep his voice level, “but they still are pretty cool.”

“Just don’t tell them you think that, or they’ll never let me hear the end of it.” Connor warned, his voice grave. 

Mitchell smirked. “Oh, I’d never,” his tone very clearly said that he’d definitely be doing exactly that.

“I hate you.”

“Sure ya do, Con.”

“Fuck you, Mitch.”

“Oh you’d love that, wouldn’t you?”

Connor blushed so hard that you’d think he had third degree burns all over his body. He didn’t respond. 

Soon, they’d both changed out of the ruined outfits, and Mitchell had thoroughly mourned his clothing. Connor had given the other boy some of his own clothing, and even though it was at least one size too big on him and he’d never wear it in public, Mitchell loved it. “Thanks, Con.” He snuggled deeper into the old track hoodie.

Connor blushed again at that. “No problem, Mitch. You can keep it, if you’d like.”

Mitchell smiled. “I’d like that very much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? I hope you did! Please leave a comment, they keep me going; and I will see y'all again whenever highschool decides to stop slowly destroying my will to live (aka I'll see you when christmas break decides to show itself).


	7. A Little Bit Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HEY HEY HEY GUYS I’M FINALLY BACK AHAHAHA!!!!! THEY THOUGHT THAT THEY COULD BEAT ME, BUT THEY WERE WRONG! I HAVE THE POWER OF THE GODS AND FANDOMS ON MY SIDE! Okay anyways in all seriousness, this chapter is kind of a biggie in terms of plot. If you wanna read blind, stop here.
> 
> Okay now that all the weaklings have left, there may or may not be confessions ahead. Whee. Also, Leo joins the gang, and all that fun stuff. I’m probs forgetting something, but whatever. On with the show!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Salutations my fellow demigods and fanpersons! So, this chapter is mostly me being a self indulgent little shit. Also, I’m realizing that I’ve been writing a lot of speeches and declarations and stuff like that in this thing, and I’d like to know if y’all want me to stop and/or cut back in the future chapters? Like, I mainly write them because I’m a sucker for fluff, praise, and declarations of self worth/love, also I feel like that’s what I’m good at, but I also care about what the readers think. So yeah, feedback would be great! Anyways, on with the chapter!

That night, Connor woke up to the sound of Mitchell crying. 

He was immediately wide awake, his arms around Mitchell’s shaking form. “Mitch? Mitch, what’s wrong? What can I do to help?”

Mitchell took a shaky breath before he spoke, voice warbly with tears. “N-nothing really. Just, hold me? Please?”

Connor nodded and wrapped his arms around the other boy tightly. “Of course. Might I ask what happened?”

Mitchell remained quiet for a bit before responding, his voice barely even a whisper, “What if things never get better?”

Connor thought about how to respond to that. He wanted to comfort Mitchell, to assure him that things _would_ get better, but he didn’t know how. Eventually, he just decided to wing it before he over thought things and made it worse. “Most times, life likes to fuck people over. But sometimes, sometimes life gives you a break. Sometimes, things start to look a little bit better. And sometimes, maybe it’ll keep getting better. And maybe, maybe it’ll stay that way. And maybe it’ll stay that way until you forget what it was like before things got a little bit better. Maybe life decided that you deserve to have your life get that little bit better. And Mitchell, you deserve that more than any other person I’ve ever met. So keep on searching for whatever makes things that little bit better, because it’s out there for you. I just know it. And hopefully, soon you’ll know it too.”

Mitchell was still crying silently, but had stopped shaking and was looking up at Connor in awe. “Do you really think that?”

“Of course, darling. You are the most wonderful, lovely person I’ve ever met,” immediately after saying that, Connor realized what had just came out of his mouth. Oh gods, what had he just done?

“Darling, huh?” Mitchell asked, sniffling a bit.

“Uhm…” Connor blushed deeply. He hoped that Mitchell wouldn’t be able to see it in the dark room. “Yes?”

“You don’t sound too sure about that.” 

Connor looked down, embarrassed, and didn’t respond.

“Don’t worry; I like it.” Mitchell said softly, before snuggling into Connor’s chest and drifting back into the world of dreams.

Connor was dumbfounded. What had just happened? In less than five minutes, he had gone from haphazardly trying to comfort a sobbing Mitchell to calling Mitchell, _his crush,_ darling and being told by that very person that they_liked_ _it._ Now he had a sleeping Mitchell cuddled into him in his bed. What did he do now? Everything had been flipped on its head; nothing made sense. There was no way he would be able to go back to sleep, that was for sure. So, he was left with one option: lay silently with his thoughts. _Yay._

_Does this mean he likes me back? Should I call him darling around school now, or is that a personal thing? Did he even really mean it? What if that was just his delirious, sleep deprived mind and he didn’t mean to say that? What if he was just_ _trying to comfort me? What should I do? Should I just ignore this, or ask him about it tomorrow morning? What happens if he didn’t mean it? **What happens if he did?!** What if I ask him out? What if **he** asks **me** out?! What if he says yes? I would say_ _yes. Am I over thinking all of this? I’m probably overthinking all of this. Shit. It’s too soon anyways, we’ve only known each other for less than a month. But it feels so much longer than that! And what about my rule? Well, it’s too late now anyways._ _I just… I don’t want to ruin this. I’m so terrified. I should probably just go to sleep, we have school tomorrow. I’ll decide what to do in the morning._

—-—

Mitchell woke up in Connor’s arms. It was warm, and perfect, and just felt… _right._ He looked up at the other boy’s face and saw that he was already awake, staring at the ceiling. Smiling, he said with a voice gravelly from sleep, “Morning babe. Sleep well?” 

Connor turned to face him, but Mitchell couldn’t read his face. “Not really, but I’ll be fine,” He looked like he wanted to say more, but was hesitating. Eventually, a look of determination came across his face and he continued. “Uhm… What did you mean last night, when you said that you liked that I called you darling?” 

Connor almost looked scared of how Mitchell would answer. “Connor…” Mitchell replied softly, placing a hand on the other boy’s cheek. “It means I like you, idiot.” 

Connor sucked in a sharp breath, tensing up. “R-Really?” 

Mitchell chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Well yeah, Why wouldn’t I? I mean, you’re funny, and sweet, and kind, and smart, and mischievous, and completely chaotic but somehow make complete sense and yet none at all simultaneously, and the fact that you’re exactly my type doesn’t hurt either. That’s not even close to all the reasons I like you. You make me feel safe, and protected, and like I belong here. With you, always. So yes, dumbass. I like you.”

By the time Mitchell’s rant was over, Connor was blushing like an idiot with his eyes wide. “Well… uhm… okay then. So what does this all mean, for us?” He was fiddling with the edge of the blanket as he asked that, his curly salt-and-pepper hair covering his azure eyes. 

Mitchell hummed in the back of his throat and leaned back against Connor’s chest, thinking. “Well, if my interpretation of our conversation is correct- and I dearly hope it is-, then I believe that our current situation is that we both have romantic feelings for each other. Now, the most obvious next step is to become boyfriends. However, I honestly don’t think I’m ready to be in another relationship again. But at the same time, I really want to kiss you right now. So, my proposition is that we set some rules and boundaries. We can kiss, call each other pet names, cuddle, go on dates, hold hands, all that fun stuff. But no make outs, and nothing below the face until I let you know I’m ready for it. Oh, and I’d prefer if you only refer to me as your boyfriend around close friends and family. I don’t want this reaching my ex. I’m really sorry, but I just don’t think I can handle all of that right now, ya know?” 

Connor nodded. “That all makes sense, and you don’t have to be sorry. Really, I’m shocked that you’re okay with being my boyfriend at all. Now, we need to get going or we’ll be late for school!” 

In that moment, Mitchell remembered something. “Uhhh, Con? How are we getting to school if the freeway still has a huge hole in it from the bus exploding?” 

Connor smirked knowingly. This scared Mitchell a bit. **(AN- As it should)** “Oh, don’t worry about that. I may have just moved here, but when there’s a Stoll involved, there’s _always_ a way.”

With those words, Connor and Mitchell got dressed and ready. Mitchell wasn’t able to put on any makeup, which devastated him to no end, but Connor said he looked cute no matter what. (It took **forever** for the blushing to go down. It didn’t help any that every five seconds Connor would kiss his cheek, either.) In the end, he settled on borrowing an old, over-sized banana yellow sweatshirt, light blue jeans that were a bit too big but oh well, and a plain white t shirt. Connor came up behind him and wrapped his arms around the shorter boy’s waist, perching his head on top of Mitchell’s. “You ready to go?” He asked. 

“Well I kinda have to be, don’t I?”

“Yep!” Connor turned around and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. 

Mitchell shook his head in amusement before grabbing his own bag and putting it on. “So are you going to tell me how we are supposed to get to school?”

Connor just gave him his signature smirk. “Nope! Now come on!” He grabbed Mitchell’s hand and dragged him downstairs. “Travis, Cecil, hurry up!” 

The two other brothers came out of the kitchen holding some bagels. “Well excuse me for wanting to consume some sustenance. Is it really so wrong to not want to starve? You should really respect your elders, you know,” Cecil said, waving a half-eaten bagel around as he spoke. 

“Oh I’m sorry my good sir, you are completely correct. I was totally out of line,” Connor said, bowing. Cecil huffed and nodded sharply.

“You are forgiven, I suppose.”

Mitchell looked over at Travis, who was watching the exchange seriously, as if this was a trial and he was the judge. “Isn’t Connor older than Cecil?” He whispered.

Travis looked over at him as if he’d just said that clouds were the farts of the gods. “So?”

Eventually, the group had left the house and were walking towards the woods behind it. “Wait, we’re going in there?” Mitchell asked, now a mixture of confused, worried, and anxious. 

“Why of course! Where else would we be going?” Cecil replied, smiling deviously. 

Mitchell accepted his fate. 

After about five minutes of walking, they reached an outcropping of rock that looked like an old, boarded up mineshaft. “We’re going in there, aren’t we?” Mitchell asked.

“That would be correct, my dear!” Connor told him a bit too enthusiastically. 

“Of course we are,” Mitchell sighed. 

Travis pulled some flashlights out of an old, hollow log near the entrance to the mineshaft, while Cecil and Connor moved boards out of the way so they could enter the tunnel. Eventually, they all stepped through. Travis in front, then Cecil, Mitchell, and finally Connor in the back. Everything was just a little too silent for Mitchell’s taste. 

So he started singing.

“That was my favorite song, don't listen much anymore. My likeness isn't me, my likeness isn't at all. Is it normal to stand here, and wish that I was back at home? Is it normal to tell her I can't be normal anymore? I don't know. So maybe I should go back home.” He could feel Connor staring at his back, but he just kept on singing. “I made a party song, so I'm in all of the dorms. I showed up once or twice, I think I'm missing the point. Is it normal to stand here, and wish that I was back at home? Is it normal to tell her I can't be normal anymore? I don't know. So maybe I should go back home. So maybe I should go back home. Maybe I should go back home,” At this point He could tell that everyone was listening to his voice intently. He wanted to stop, he didn’t do well with being the focus of attention. But he only had a few lines left and couldn’t stop now. “My friends have all new friends, I'm scared that they like 'em more. So I made a party song, now I'm in every dorm.”

It was quiet for a few seconds before Connor broke the silence. “Mitch… that was beautiful.” His voice was barely a whisper, full of awe.

Cecil joined in on the fawning. “Con’s right. You should join the choir at the very least, but I’mma be honest here and say that you could sing professionally.”

Travis spoke up as well, saying, “They’re not lying, you know. You’re really good.” 

Mitchell didn’t really know what to do or say to all of that. He didn’t think he was all that good; he was just Mitchell, the guy in the corner at parties who drifted through life being completely unremarkable. “I don’t know why you think that, but thanks, I guess.”

“We really need to work on your self worth. You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Connor said from behind him. 

Mitchell just shrugged. He knew that Connor had a point, but he just couldn’t understand how he could be anything _but_ average. He felt bad, because he knew that his perception of himself hurt Connor, but he didn’t know how else to feel. He couldn’t just flip a switch and suddenly feel otherwise. Luckily, before any more unicorns could die from the uncomfortable silence, they reached the end of the tunnel. 

They all climbed out and brushed off as much dirt and silt as they could before Michael looked around. 

“How are we in the woods next to the school parking lot?” 

The three Stolls laughed. “I did tell you, when there’s a Stoll involved, there is _always_ a way,” Connor recited. 

Michael shook his head and muttered to himself, “What have I gotten myself into?”

Travis smirked. "Oh, you innocent, innocent child. You have no idea."

"Wha-" but before he could question what on Earth that meant, Travis had run off to go do gods knew what, probably something involving candle wax and tennis rackets. 

Cecil turned to the remaining two and bowed. "Well my fair dears, I must regretfully bid you adieu for now. Fare thee well my loves, ta ta!" He then proceeded to skip off.

Mitchell raised his eyebrows, shaking his head at Cecil's retreating form. "Wow. He is… something else."

Connor nodded solemnly. "That he is. That. he. is." 

As they walked to their first class, more people began crowding around them. Mitchell could feel himself growing more withdrawn and anxious again, grabbing onto Connor’s arm to ground himself. He hated it, he hated how weak he felt, but he didn’t know what he could possibly do to change it. He could feel Connor’s arm around him as they walked, Mitchel’s face buried into his shoulder. Eventually, they arrived in the relatively quieter French classroom. 

——-

The rest of the day up to lunch passed relatively uneventfully. Many of the students, and even a good amount of teachers, were absent as a result of the highway incident. Soon, it was time to go to lunch. 

The couple walked over to their usual table, and as soon as they got within view a deranged looking Piper leapt over to Mitchell and tackled him with a hug.

“Oh my gods, Mitchell! I was so worried! What if you’d been on that bus? What if you’d gotten hurt? Thank the gods you’re okay!” She was practically strangling her younger brother in her crazy, concern-ridden state. 

Connor laughed uncomfortably. “Hey, Pipes, I think that breathing might be beneficial to his health right about now.”

“Oh, yeah, right! Sorry.” She said, letting go quickly.

The trio walked over to the table, where Nico, Will, Jason, Cecil, and Travis were waiting. 

As they sat down, Connor decided to speak up. “So I should probably clarify for Piper’s sake. Mitchell and I were on the bus that exploded.” 

At that exact moment, Piper had never been more terrifying. She was five foot seven inches of pure, unadulterated fury. “WHAT?! YOU COULD’VE DIED! ARE YOU OKAY?!” 

Everyone was leaning away from her. Tentatively, and possibly as an affirmation of his having a death wish, Connor told her, “We were, and still are, fine. We were some of the first people off of the bus. A little scraped up, and the clothes we were wearing are now trashed, but other than that we are perfectly healthy. Now, could you please stop yelling at Mitchell? You’re scaring him.” Connor was holding onto Mitchell tight, who was now shaking from having someone yell at him. He knew Piper hadn’t meant to trigger him, but he was still pretty upset about it.

Piper took a few deep breaths and relaxed a bit, nodding. “Yeah, yeah. I can do that. Sorry Mitch, I was just really scared about you.”

For a few minutes, everyone ate silently. The awkward tension was so palpable, it was practically deafening. Luckily, a small Latino chose that moment to show up. 

“Salutations my faithful admirers! Your beloved Uncle Leo has arrived to rescue you from the evil clutches of… Something! How may I be of service today?” His hair was wild, his grin was crooked, his clothing was covered in something that Connor was praying was just grime and machine grease, and for some unknown reason his entire outfit was burnt and in tatters. It was a miracle he hadn’t been sent home for violating the dress code. 

Cecil was the one to reply with, “Well, I have been wanting a new way to annoy Coach Hedge recently. He took away my air horns.”

Leo nodded as he pulled random parts out of only the gods knew where. “He is rather frustrating like that, isn’t he?” He was assembling the pieces into some strange contraption as he talked, hands flying, not even looking at what he was making. It was pretty impressive to watch, quite frankly. “In my experience, the best way to get him is to either tamper with something he can’t replace easily or to insult Chuck Norris in front of him. Although, the last one can result in some pretty painful and or frustrating punishments. Anyways, here is your custom Valdez™ trinket!” He held out a small, pen-like object. At first glance, it looked like a regular pen, but when Connor looked closer, it had several gears and buttons on it. “It has a speaker that plays ‘Old McDonald Had A Farm” on repeat if you push the top button, and if you uncap it, it’ll do the John Cena theme but bass-boosted to oblivion, and this side gear here will make a sound that’s like a fly right next to your ear, and this gear on the other side is either a Rick Roll or ‘All Star’ depending on which way you turn it. Oh, and this button over here is ‘Africa’ by Toto. Basically, I made an obnoxious meme pen. Enjoy!” He held out the pen to a wide-eyed Cecil, who took it like it could explode at any moment. 

“Th-thanks,” He said quietly, his voice slightly higher than normal. 

“You’re welcome, my dear friend! Anything for a loyal fan and customer!” Leo said grandly, bowing. 

Travis shook his head in either awe or fear. Possibly both. It was probably both. “You’re like a smaller, more Latino version of Cecil. I love it. You are now legally my friend.” 

Leo hissed out a breath through his teeth. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but laws and I are kind of going through a rough patch in our relationship at the moment.”

“Well then in that case, you are hereby illegally my friend! Congratulations!”

Leo wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye. “Thank you so much for this honour. Truly, I am so grateful. I’d like to thank myself, and Leo, and Festus. I could have gotten here without you.” 

Connor scooted over, making space for the other boy to sit down. “Come over here Trinket Boy, tell us a bit about yourself!” 

Leo sat down and began to speak. “Well, I work at a mechanic’s shop after school and on weekends. I have a pet machine dragon that I named Festus. He is basically my everything. I never knew my dad, but my mom always said that he was wonderful. That’s about it.”

Connor noticed that he spoke about his whole family in past tense, but didn’t comment on it. If he’d wanted to open up any more than that, he would have. Instead, he asked, “Would you like some of my sandwich? I’m full, and it doesn’t look like you have any lunch.”

Leo shook his head. “I don’t want to just take something from you.”

“Eat it.” Connor insisted, putting the sandwich into Leo’s hands.

Leo rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever.”

The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully after that, and by the end of it there was news that the highway would be fixed within the week. In the meantime, Mitchell, Connor, and Nico made plans to finish the project in class then meet up at Mitchell’s place for the finishing touches once the road was actually in one piece again.

—-okay so i know this break is the awkwardest thing ever but I’ve been staring at this thing for two hours at this point (not even an exaggeration) and my beta has no clue what to do either so i give up. Deal with it.—-

Rather than walking home after school got out, Connor and Mitchell decided to head over to a nearby clothing store so that he wouldn’t have to borrow way-too-big clothes for a week (even though Connor was pretty sure that Mitchell loved wearing Connor’s clothes, and Connor was living for how the smaller boy looked in his shirt).

“How about we check out that place? It looks like your style,” Connor said, pointing to a random store that had some skinny jeans and different styles of t-shirts in the window display. 

Mitchell smiled brightly, grabbing Connor’s hand to drag him into the store. Connor laughed, but didn’t try to resist. Whenever Mitchell would smile like that, it felt like the whole world got quieter for a moment; listening to the way Mitchell lit up the whole universe just that little bit more. Gods, he was getting way too sappy, wasn’t he? 

Suddenly, he was yeeted out of his train of thought by Michael squealing and scurrying over to a rack of cropped sweatshirts. _Gods, he’s adorable,_ Connor thought to himself as he followed the smaller boy, shaking his head in amusement. Mitchell had grabbed a white one with a decal of the old style Mickey Mouse on the front. “Do you like it?” Mitch asked, holding it up against himself for Connor to see.

Connor smiled, Mitchell was like a puppy and he loved it. “Totally, but of course I love anything when you’re the one wearing it.” Mitchell blushed at that, looking down shyly before handing the top to Connor so he could continue looking. 

Eventually, two hours had passed and they were in dire need of some dinner. By that time, they had gone through three stores and bought three bags worth of clothes. Mitchell had wanted to get more, but Connor had convinced him that he definitely did not need that many clothes. Like, honestly, he had enough clothes at this point to outfit an entire musical cast of “The Heathers”- with costume changes! It was absolutely nuts. 

—- (sorry for the sudden POV change, I just really want Mitchell’s POV for this part and didn’t know how to transition smoothly)—-

In the end, they decided on a small sushi joint about a five minute walk from Connor’s house. After they had sat down and ordered, Connor turned to Mitchell and asked, “So does this count as our first date?”

Michael froze. Up until that moment, the fact that Connor was now his boyfriend hadn’t quite sunk in yet. What if Damien found out? What if Connor broke up with him? What if something happened to Connor? What if this was all just some cruel prank? What if Connor didn’t actually like him? What if this was all just some horrible dream? What if, what if, what if- 

“Mitch, baby? Are you okay?” Mitchell snapped out of his thoughts and realized he was shaking. Connor had a concerned look on his face, hands hovering as if he wanted to hold Mitchell’s hands but didn’t know if he should. 

“O-oh. Sorry. I’m… I don’t even know what okay is anymore, if I’m honest. But…” he trailed off, unsure if he was ready to say the next part or not. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and whispered, voice wavering and slightly watery, “I want this to be a date. But I don’t know if I’m ready for what could happen if it is.”

Connor reached over and took Mitchell’s hands, holding them reassuringly. “Mitchey, you are my everything. And I’ll admit, that is not exactly the healthiest thing considering we’ve only known each other since the beginning of the school year, but it’s the truth. My point is, I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to you because of our relationship. If someone sees us on a date or holding hands before you’re ready, then I’ll make up some excuse or something. As long as you are happy, then I’ll be happy. It’s okay, sweetheart. I promise.” 

By the time Connor had finished, the tears in Mitchell’s eyes had begun to fall one by one, reminiscent of rain on a car window. Connor smiled softly, eyebrows furrowing, as he reached out one hand to gently wipe away the salty, glass-like tears with his thumb. His eyes were brimming with love and admiration, yet still swimming with that signature mischief all his own. Michael had never had someone care about him this much; Damien had always been controlling and forceful, manipulative from the start. It hadn’t been real, and Mitchell had known that, but he was lonely and naive. He had been in love with the idea of the relationship, with the veil he put over the sad and painful truth. But this, Connor, this was real. This was beautiful. And for the first time in a long time, the tears were good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, they got together. I am an impatient gremlin who sucks at slow burns. Sue me. But, Mitchell still has a lot of things to work through, and Connor isn’t as okay as he may first seem. I still have some watered down angst in me yet! (In all honestly I’m about as mean to my characters as a really confused and drunk Coach Hedge with a balloon animal, but still.) I’m really sorry that this took so long to upload, or if it kinda feels all over the place. Also, the song that Mitchell sang was "Normal" by AJR. It's one of my top two favourite songs, and it's by my favourite band. I highly suggest checking it out! Anyways, comments and feedback are always appreciated, and if you have any suggestions for where this thing goes I am open to any ideas. See ya next chapter, my fellow godly gremlins!


	8. The Past Always Comes Back To Haunt You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor's past decides to rock the boat, and some stuff goes down.  
WARNING: Panic attack, jumping from a high distance (from a second story window, onto a mattress)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo heyyyyyy…. I’m still alive, I guess? If you’re wondering where I was, well first life just got in the way with my laptop breaking, and then I had no time to write, then I was super uninspired, then the corona virus hit, and overall everything just went to shit. I’m hoping to get more stuff out soon, especially with how short this chapter is. I have some fun ideas coming up (read: I’m going to softy, torture my characters). Don’t worry, this fic is nowhere near done yet. Now on with the show!

The next day, Connor woke up to a silent house. Now, to most this would seem normal. But not to the Stolls. Not when his phone clearly told him it was already seven in the morning, and he was at least sixty five percent sure that he hadn’t been teleported across the country in the middle of the night. Basically, he knew something was up. Mitchell was still asleep, and he didn’t want to disturb him, so he gently removed himself from the tangle of limbs and gave the sleeping gay a pillow to cuddle instead. 

Right after he had closed his bedroom door, Cecil came up to him and pulled him into his own room, locking the door behind him. He then turned back to a very concerned Connor, looking way too serious to actually be Cecil. 

“We have a code eleven.”

And that was all that he had to say. Connor’s face paled. This couldn’t be happening, especially not with Mitchell here. He slid down the wall, knees to his chest and face in his hands as he whispered, “How long?”

Cecil sat down next to him. “Since around midnight. Mom and Travis have been distracting him, but we don’t know how much longer it’s going to work. Listen, he’s in the kitchen, you and Mitchell might be able to sneak out of my window and make a run for it.”

Connor was still trying to process the situation, but would have to do that later. Right now, he had to focus on getting his brothers and Mitchell out and safe. “Okay, okay. Yeah. But you and Travis will be right behind us, right?” He looked over at his brother. They had grown up together, been through so much that he felt more like blood than most of his actual, genetic family. He couldn’t let him put himself in danger, especially not for his sake. 

Cecil smiled, but it looked more like an, _I’m sorry, but I have to do this, I love you, goodbye,_ smile than anything else. “Of course, Con. We’re a team, right? Stolls stick together, no matter what.” Connor didn’t believe him, but he knew that this was the only way. He had to trust his brothers, even if it broke him. 

Connor stood, and put on a figurative mask. The only thing that showed how he really felt was his eyes, full of conflict and fear. He pulled Cecil to his feet and hugged him as though it was the last time he ever would. “Promise me you’ll be safe. I _will_ see your stupid face again, and you _will_ be stubborn enough to be alive when I do, you hear me?”

Cecil laughed quietly, the sound a bit forced. “I don’t know, Con. My schedule’s been a bit tight lately, but I’ll see if I can squeeze you in somewhere.” Just as they started to let go of each other, a loud _CRASH_ and **Him** screaming came from downstairs. Cecil took in a sharp, shaky breath. “You need to go. Now. Don’t come back here until you know that it is safe, do you understand? Promise me, Con. Promise that you will stay safe.” He looked seriously into Connor’s eyes. 

“I promise. Tell Travis that I love him, and that he better not make me run our business alone.”

“You got it. Now go, I can get you at least five minutes, but I can’t promise anything more than that.” With that, Connor squeezed Cecil’s shoulder with a nod and sprinted into his room.

——-

Mitchell woke up when he heard screaming and glass breaking. His first thought was of Connor. Connor would protect him, Connor would keep him safe. Then he saw that Connor wasn’t there. 

No. No, this couldn’t be happening. Where is he? He wouldn’t just _leave,_ would he? But what if… what if Damien was here? What if he found them? He had thought he was_ safe,_ he was _supposed_ to be _safe. _But then what was that crash? The screaming? And where was Connor? Why was he alone? What was happening? It was too much, too much, _too much!_ All the questions, all the thoughts, the fear, the silence, the not knowing, _all of it._ It was **too. much.** He had to get out of here, somewhere safe. Somewhere with Connor. But where? Where was he? He didn’t know. And that was too much too. 

“Mitch! Mitch come on, we have to go! We have to go now! Baby, I know that you’re spiraling, and I know that you’re scared, but we _have to go.”_ Connor. That was Connor. Mitchell broke out of his spiral. There was Connor, holding both of their backpacks and one of his go bags and looking more terrified than Mitchell had ever seen him. “Please, Mitch. _We have to go.”_

“Connor, what’s happening?” 

Connor took a shaky breath, clearly practically crying at this point. He didn’t care what people said, there _were_ things worse than finals week. “Please. You have to trust me. If we don’t leave now, then terrible things are going to happen. I don’t have time to explain right now. _We have to get out of here, now!”_

Mitchell was so confused. Hell, he was terrified. But he had Connor, and Connor would protect him. At least, he hoped so. “Okay. I trust you,” Mitchell whispered, half to himself.

Connor heaved a sigh of relief, throwing him what looked like the other go bag and his backpack. _Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any worse._ “Okay. Let’s go. I’ve got you,” Connor said, grabbing Mitchell’s hand and climbing onto the open window by his desk. “Do you trust me?” He asked, looking over to Mitchell. He climbed up next to him and nodded, like an idiot. Connor looked forward, let out a breath, and closed his eyes. “Don’t let go.”

And then they jumped. 

——-

Connor held Mitchell close as the two fell from the second story window. He knew it was safe, as soon as they moved in they hid a bunch of cushions under leaves below all the second story windows. You couldn’t be too safe, not when you were in their situation-it was why they had to move here in the first place. But that didn’t mean that it was any less terrifying. 

Soon, they landed on the padding. It saved them from broken bones, but they were still going to be sore for days. “Mitchell? You good?”

Mitchell groaned and rolled onto his back. “Your family is insane, Stoll.” 

Connor huffed a sort of half laugh, the kind you give when you are having a terrible day and then someone tells such a bad dad joke that it’s actually good while in the middle of your grandma’s funeral. “Trust me, you don’t know the half of it.” He heaved himself up to his feet, pulling Mitchell up after him. Shouldering his bags, he held his hand out. “Let’s go.”

Mitchell took his hand, and the two began walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who’s back? Back again? I won’t say, sorry friend. Guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, back again. Anyways yeah, this is gonna be the next main plot driver. Tbh I just was like sitting in my room bored af and was life “holy shit what if this happened?!” And now here we are. Next chapter should be coming out soonish, and most will be revealed! Because I am terrible at angst and tension. So yeah. Bai for now, peeps!


	9. so im alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi?

uhm. hi there. so.... shits hitting the fan in ways im not comfy publicizing. and yet, like always, this is making want to write again. i might do some quick one shots just to get back in practice but fear not, this story is not over yet! i have plans you see. many plans. anyways sorry for yeeting out for months. bai.


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